Neutrality
by VBloodmoon4
Summary: A shinigami has to be neutral in all situations but when Sebastian Michaelis is involved that's almost impossible. Victoria Ellis is a female shinigami fresh out of reaper school and learning the ropes with her fellow classmate and good friend Ronald Knox. Shinigami, death scythes, demons, to die lists, and don't forget the glasses. OC x Sebas
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: As of 8-11-2013 this story was tweaked a bit. I lost inspiration for it a few months ago because of a few nasty reviews. So this time I'll say, if you don't like it, DON'T read it. I really don't appreciate the negativity, I thought about deleting the story entirely, but I decided that wouldn't be fair to the people who have kindly reviewed and followed this story. This is my story, if there are some things that are historically inaccurate, deal with it, I'm not a historian.**

**A thank you goes out to SP00K who always supports me in all of my work! Also a thank you to the other kind reviewers and followers! If it wasn't for you, this story would have been erased.**

The Shinigami Dispatch Society was located in a spectacular white building that closely resembled a giant castle. Short rocky mountains surrounded it and the sky was a vivid blue. There were many attached white buildings which included the Grim Reaper Library and the academy where reapers in training were located. Smooth white bridges connected the campus which was in a place separate from human world, heaven, and hell. Shinigami bustled about as they headed to their respective divisions and departments in the society which included the Human Resources Department, Shinigami Staffing Association, Personnel Department, General Affairs Department, Dispatch Management Division, London Division, and the Main Branch.

Victoria Ellis stood at the front desk in the General Affairs Department with an impatient look on her face. She tapped her aquamarine nails on the receptionist's desk who gave her an irritated glare through the window.

"Did my paperwork get approved or not?" Victoria asked with a frown.

The receptionist pulled out a nail file and began working on her gaudy painted nails, "Nope."

"Why?"

"Modifying a death scythe is prohibited," the receptionist said, not looking up.

"Right, unless the proper paperwork is filed, which is what I did."

"Look, I don't make the rules, and this isn't going to change, so give up."

Victoria let out an angry huff and turned sharply away from the desk. Her heels clicked and echoed loudly as she walked out of the General Affairs Department. She gritted her teeth as she moved along the walkway outside toward the Dispatch Management Division building. Victoria was an average sized female at 5'5" with a few inches added because of her heels. She wore black dress pants which stopped at her ankles. She had heels that were black pumps which covered her freshly painted toenails. Victoria's hair was long, wavy, and dark brown. Her hair had always driven her crazy as it was wild and unruly. She wore bright baby blue rimmed glasses in front of her abnormal eyes. All shinigami had green-yellow eyes but in her case she had blue-green eyes which had caused her to adopt bright shades of blue as her favorite color of choice to wear. Her undershirt was a black button up with a blue ribbon adorning her neck instead of a tie. Victoria wore a prim and proper suit jacket over the black button up that was a vivid light blue with black buttons.

"Vicky!"

The shinigami turned to see Ronald Knox, a fellow death god running toward her with a smile.

"Why so glum?" he asked.

"How did you get your death scythe modified?" Victoria asked him seriously.

"Did you get denied?" he asked with amusement.

Victoria scowled at him and he laughed with a wink, "I used my wonderful charm on the receptionist, it was a cinch."

"That's not fair," Victoria grumbled as they entered the building they both worked at.

"Cheer up! It's a wonderful day!" Ronald grinned.

Ronald and Victoria were both fresh out of reaping school. Both were prime prospects for the Dispatch Management Division because of their excellent grades and performance. Victoria was the first female shinigami to be hired on the dispatch division which made her work that much harder to stay a step ahead of her male counterparts. She and Ronald were partners most of the time when they were given assignments. They were both under William T. Spears who was their supervisor.

"Hi Will!" Ronald waved at the tall neatly dressed man.

William adjusted his glasses with his death scythe, "What took you two so long?"

Victoria opened her mouth to speak but her supervisor cut her off, "Where are your gloves?"

She stared down at her bare hands and blue fingernails.

"You should be wearing them…" he leaned in closely and inspected her glasses, "You've kept your glasses in good shape at least."

Ronald snickered and Victoria reached into her pocket, pulling out a pair of black gloves. She slid them on and sighed. William was always a stickler about the uniform and even stricter about glasses. She cringed at the thought of listening to another one of his lectures on the proper care of spectacles and the true meaning of a shinigami's glasses. When a shinigami removed their glasses they were considered a deserter and their death scythe was confiscated.

"What do you have for us today Will?" Ronald asked and added, "Hopefully nothing that will require overtime."

"Grell is in human world goofing off as usual…" William said as he handed Ronald a book containing a to die list, "Collect him after you've completed these."

Ronald nodded and turned to Victoria, "Let's go."

…

"Let's do this as quick as possible," Ronald said and added, "I've got a party this evening."

Victoria chuckled, "You always have parties."

"You're one to talk! You go to them almost as much as I do!" Ronald exclaimed as he opened the book he had been carrying under his arm.

The two shinigami were standing on the roof of a tall building in London, England. It was evening and the sky was a burnt orange. Victoria let out a sigh and waited as she watched Ronald's eyes skim over the pages behind his glasses. She instinctively reached up and pushed her rims up her nose.

"Lots of older folks…" Ronald mumbled as he flipped the page.

Victoria moaned, "You know I don't like old people… Will probably did that on purpose!"

"Grell doesn't like children, but I've never seen Will give him a children's list," Ronald replied.

"That's because Grell and Will went to school together! They're partners sometimes too!"

"Think what you want, let's get this job done quickly and efficiently," Ronald told her.

"Fine," Victoria nodded as her death scythe appeared in her hand.

Ronald started chuckling and Victoria narrowed her eyes at him, "Even _you_ think my death scythe is lame! This is why I wanted to have it slightly modified!"

A shinigami's death scythe was based on the individual holding it and all of them seemed to be based on gardening tools. Victoria's death scythe was a metal spade with a long handle and sharp edges on the spade end.

"What did yours look like before you had it modified?" Victoria asked.

Ronald shrugged innocently, "I'll never tell."

Victoria rolled her eyes and Ronald asked, "How do you want to do this? We could split the list in half and get done faster if you do part and I do part."

"You know Will wouldn't approve… he wants us to stick together to get this done since we're newbies."

Ronald gave her a pouting face, "Alright, have it your way."

…

The sun had set and the city was dark with the exception of the street lights. Ronald was checking the final few names off of the to die list and closed the book.

"I still think we should have let that boy live," he told Victoria who shrugged.

"As reapers we would prefer if a person passes on rather than continuing to live…"

"He was going to die anyway, he was sick! He was _benefiting_ his family," Ronald told her with a frown.

"Sure… so we put him out of his misery and he wasn't benefiting the _world_, which would be the rare case we would allow someone to continue living," she stated dryly and added, "This is why we work as a team, so we can decide these things together."

"I guess so, at least we didn't have to worry about any demons this time around. No monsters stealing out souls out from underneath us," he said.

Victoria shuddered, "I don't want to have to worry about them or deal with them, horrible creatures."

Ronald stepped onto his death scythe, a lawnmower, and started to ride it across the rooftops as Victoria ran after him.

"Time to pick up Sutcliff!" he shouted over his shoulder.

The pair came to a screeching halt on the rooftop as they stumbled upon the scene below them. Grell was slashing his chainsaw death scythe about mercilessly as he chased after a pale man dressed in all black. Ronald sniffed the air and made a disgusted expression.

"I'd know that stench anywhere, looks like you jinxed yourself, that's a demon right there."

Victoria threw her spade over her shoulder, "Stupid Grell… do we have to engage?"

Ronald flashed a charming smile, "Of course, we were told to bring Grell back by our supervisor, so that's what we're going to do."

Victoria stared down at the maniacal red head and took a deep breath, "Let's see if he'll come easily."

Ronald grinned as Victoria shouted down at their fellow shinigami, "Grell Sutcliff! We've been ordered to bring you back with us to the Dispatch Management Division by Will."

Grell stopped moving and looked up at the pair on the rooftop. He started waving flamboyantly and grinned.

"Will sent for me? I don't need two new comers to escort me back. Don't worry, I'll return, but I have business to finish with _Bassy_ here," he winked at the demon who was glaring at him.

Ronald leaned on the handle of his lawnmower, "Come on Grell, I want to go home, I do _not_ want to work overtime because you're playing with some filthy demon."

Grell stomped his feet, "No! I don't ever get to see Bassy! I'm not going to let you ruin it! We're star crossed lovers after all!"

"Gross," Victoria stated.

"Disgusting," Ronald curled his lip.

The two looked at each other and then back down at Grell who was staring ahead like a starved wolf eyeing a deer. The demon next to him looked less than enthused. Ronald pulled out the to die list and flipped through the pages.

"He's not in here… but he's a demon, shall we reap him?" he asked Victoria with a questioning look.

"I'm sure Will wouldn't be that upset if we got rid of a pest."

"My thoughts exactly, we'll fight!" Ronald proclaimed and his lawnmower engine roared to life.

The machine moved and he rode it down the side of the roof. Victoria followed after him and the two were soon at eye level with Grell and the demon.

"Look at my Sebas-_chan_, he's gorgeous!" Grell gushed.

"It has a name?" Victoria asked, looking at the demon.

He flashed his red eyes at her and let out a chuckle, "The name my master gave me."

Victoria didn't like him; he was too smooth and handsome to be a demon. By looking at him she could imagine that he had seduced many humans to get what he wanted. His eyes were easy to fall into, yes, he needed to be exterminated, what a dangerous pest. Victoria brandished her weapon and held the sharp edge of her spade close to the demon's face.

"Demons don't need names, they're all the same, crude and vile creatures," she said with disgust.

Grell cried out instantly and leapt between Sebastian and Victoria, "He's my Romeo and I'm his Juliet!"

"Bloody hell, knock that off Grell! You're making me nauseous!" Ronald scowled.

"Since when do they have _female_ reapers?" Sebastian asked with a hint of amusement in his eyes, "I assumed it was a _male_ dominated profession."

His smirk grew as he saw that he had struck a nerve. Victoria gritted her teeth and lashed out at him with her weapon as she swerved around Grell. He leapt backward and landed lightly; still watching her.

"Being a woman has nothing to do with job performance. The best of the best are chosen, sex doesn't matter."

Ronald let out a sigh, "Why did you have to go and do that? Now she's going to go off on one of her feminist rants! I can't take it!"

Ronald pulled his suit sleeve up and looked at his watch; letting out a groan.

"My shift is almost over, I'm _not_ working overtime and we still have to write our reflection letters and reports for each of these souls that were reaped today!" he turned to Grell, "Come on, let's go back."

Grell looked downcast, "I never get to have any fun!"

"What happened to the code of neutrality?" Victoria spat over her shoulder, "You're not abiding by it if you're associating with vermin like this."

"Code of neutrality?" Sebastian questioned.

"I suppose I'm a bit sleepy," Grell yawned, "We shinigami need our beauty sleep after all!" he winked at Sebastian who visibly recoiled.

"I was merely running an errand for my young master, he's probably wondering where I'm at," Sebastian stated, "I should be going."

The trio of shinigami watched as the butler vanished quickly into the shadows.

"Finally!" Ronald sputtered.

…..

Back at the Dispatch Management Division Ronald and Victoria had their noses buried in paperwork. They both sat at a table in an office and were silent as they wrote their reflection letters and reports. After a couple of hours they completed their task and Ronald shoved the giant stack of papers toward Victoria.

"Take these to the Main Branch, I'm late for my party!"

"Fine," Victoria sighed without a fight.

She watched him leave the room briskly and wrapped her arms around the giant stack. Victoria made her way outside where the sky had become a dark midnight blue. She entered the large building for the Main Branch of the society and walked up to the desk. The papers hit the surface with a 'thud' and she let out a relieved sigh.

"Reflection letters and reports from Ronald Knox and Victoria Ellis," she stated blandly.

The man working the desk nodded, "All from today?"

"Yes."

"Alright I'll get these filed," he nodded.

Victoria turned around and left the quiet building with a pensive look on her face. She pondered if she should go join Ronald at the party he went off to. As she walked she decided against it and let out a small yawn. She returned to her room in the living quarters which were located in a building behind the main campus for the society. Her room was a small rectangle with a simple bed and no decorations with the exceptions of a dresser for clothes and a mirror. She placed her death scythe against the wall and opened her dresser drawer to pull out a polishing cloth. Victoria grabbed her spade and sat down heavily on her bed. She started wiping the scythe down meticulously. It was a rule that a shinigami had to take care of their death scythe. Victoria was probably a bit over the top as she cleaned her spade several times a day, making sure that it was spotless. The female shinigami was slightly obsessive compulsive when it came to cleanliness which was why her room was so bare. She didn't like clutter because it made her feel disorganized and dirty. Lastly, she pulled off her glasses and cleaned the lenses with a lens cloth that she kept on the nightstand next to her bed. She folded the spectacles and placed them on the top of her nightstand with a content smile. She was extremely exhausted and wanted to get some rest but the demon she had encountered was making her restless. She had never seen such a handsome and misleading looking demon before. It was hard to be disgusted by him when he looked so… appealing. Victoria shook her head and bit the insides of her cheeks, she should _not_ be thinking that way. She was a _shinigami_ and neutrality was her code, just because she was a woman she wasn't going to let her heart get in the way, was she?


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I'm glad to see I'm getting some hits on this story! And a special thank you to Kayla-Ninja who has followed both of my Kuroshitsuji fictions! It makes me happy to know I have a faithful reader that enjoys my stories! Also… reviews would be great!**

_**A/N: As of 8-11-2013 this story was tweaked a bit. I lost inspiration for it a few months ago because of a few nasty reviews. So this time I'll say, if you don't like it, DON'T read it. I really don't appreciate the negativity, I thought about deleting the story entirely, but I decided that wouldn't be fair to the people who have kindly reviewed and followed this story. This is my story, if there are some things that are historically inaccurate, deal with it, I'm not a historian.**_

_**A thank you goes out to SP00K who always supports me in all of my work! Also a thank you to the other kind reviewers and followers! If it wasn't for you, this story would have been erased.**_

"All of you pay attention," William said with an extremely serious and agitated expression.

A line of dispatch officers stood before him in the Dispatch Management Division. Some of them were half asleep and others yawned blatantly. It was the middle of the night and they had all been ordered to gather.

"What's the emergency? I didn't get to sleep a _wink_!" Ronald grumbled with dark circles under his eyes.

William tapped the end of his death scythe on the floor which echoed loudly. He cleared his throat and adjusted his glasses before continuing.

"We've experienced a breach of security during the night. There was a break in and the situation is dire."

"Cut to the chase," Ronald ground out under his breath with heavy lidded eyes.

"The death scythes which are confiscated after a reaper retires were taken and the culprit is unknown. It's obvious that they are most likely a shinigami, or working for one. It's impeccable that we get these scythes and return them to the vault where they belong," William finished.

"How many were taken?" an officer down the line spoke up.

"Several," William answered.

"That's not good," Grell said with a puzzled expression, "They could be anywhere."

"Which is why we're going to break out into groups and find each one and confiscate it," William told the red haired reaper.

Grell clapped his hands together, "Oh! Will be my partner, please!"

William scowled and adjusted his glasses with his scythe, "No."

"What a stab to the heart! How cruel! We'd find them in no time if we worked _together_," Grell grinned.

"Grell, you're with Ronald and Victoria," William said in a plain voice.

"Gah! Why?!"

"And you're in charge."

"_What_?!" Ronald cried, his eyes popping open.

Grell elbowed him, "I _am_ your superior, don't you know that?"

Victoria had been quiet the entire time. She was not in the mood to be messed with. She was tired, agitated, and about to choke Grell. Shinigami needed their sleep and none of them had gotten theirs… except Grell.

"Those lines under your eyes look awful, you look aged," Grell said to Ronald and pointed to himself, "A lady _always_ gets her beauty rest."

"I'm not a lady," Ronald sighed and nodded at Victoria, "She doesn't look much better off."

"I meant to say a _proper_ lady."

Victoria clenched her fists and let out a tense sigh as she tried not to attack him on the spot. Even though Grell was flamboyant and crazy he still was one of the most skilled shinigami in the division. He definitely deserved respect and recognition, even if he acted the way he did.

"You'll all be getting overtime compensation for this," William said after he finished placing the line of shinigami into their respective groups.

"This is going to take _ages_," Ronald moaned, "We could be working on this for days if several scythes are out there."

"Don't be a negative nelly!" Grell scolded him, "We're going to take care of this tonight and maybe I'll run into Sebas-_chan_ while we're looking."

Ronald and Victoria groaned as the red haired reaper starting making kissing faces. Victoria's mind was buzzing as she thought of the awful scenarios that rouge death scythes could cause. The saying 'a death scythe can cut through anything' wasn't completely true. The only time it was accurate was when only one was involved. When there were multiple death scythes the statement was void because a death scythe cannot cut another death scythe. It was good they were going to work in groups because if there was a fight they wouldn't be able to effectively use their weapons.

"We're going to London, that's where all of the _good_ things happen," Grell winked as he motioned for the pair to follow him.

Ronald dragged his feet and Victoria's eyes trailed down to his fancy white and black shoes where a lace was dragging.

"You need to tie your shoes," she told him.

Ronald's eyes shot down and he frowned, "Bloody hell, nothing is going right!"

He kneeled down and quickly made a knot. Grell walked confidently ahead of them with a big grin on his face and swayed his hips. Ronald and Victoria trudged along behind him as they left their realm and entered human world. The trio landed on a high rooftop in the darkness of night. The wind blew harshly through their clothes and Victoria curled her lip as her already unruly hair fluttered about.

"We could always ask Sebas-_chan_ if we could use his nose. His sense of smell is fantastic! Then again, everything about him is fantastic," Grell gushed.

"We're not asking a demon to help us do our job," Victoria said dryly.

Grell crossed his arms and pouted, "Neither of you are any fun."

"We _could_ ask the little kid if he knows anything," Ronald spoke up, "He'd know if something fishy was happening around here."

Grell's eyes glimmered, "Yes! Let's do that!"

Victoria smacked her forehead with the palm of her hand and regrettably followed the two men who had started toward the Phantomhive mansion ahead of her. After jumping across rooftops against the cold wind they arrived at the haughty building.

"Should we knock?" Ronald asked, raising a black gloved hand to the large door.

"Of course not! Bassy and I are in love! Lovers don't knock," Grell winked, and threw the doors open forcefully.

They walked into the manor, their shoes clicking on the shining floor. Victoria looked around, pushing her glasses up her nose. She was surprised to see how perfectly clean everything was, this was her kind of house. Ronald pulled his sleeve back to reveal his silver watch. He scowled at it as he watched it tick and the overtime minutes rack up.

"Sebas-_chan_?! Where are you?" Grell called out with a delighted grin.

"Who the hell are you?" a man with dirty blonde hair and a cigarette hanging out of his mouth called to them.

"We're here to see the little guy," Ronald told him.

"In the middle of the night?"

The three shinigami paused as they stared up at the top of an elaborate staircase where a butler was dressed in all black.

"Sebas_-chan_!" Grell practically squealed.

"What on _earth_ are you doing here Grell Sutcliff?"

"I can't come see you when I want?" Grell asked, blowing him a kiss.

"No…" Sebastian stated dryly.

"We didn't come to see you," Ronald said in a tired voice, "We came to see your _master_."

"He's currently asleep… humans do that at night time," Sebastian replied shortly.

"So do we," Victoria ground out, "Now wake him up, we're on the clock."

Sebastian narrowed his eyes and said in a scolding tone, "That's quite rude considering you're the ones who barged in here without an invitation."

Ronald huffed, "We're reapers, we don't need invitations."

"We need to know if anything suspicious has been happening around here," Victoria said.

"That's a loaded question," Sebastian answered with a smirk on his face.

Steam shot out of Grell's nose and he started dancing around. Victoria let out a frustrated sigh and Ronald stepped onto his death scythe.

"If you won't tell us, I'll wake the tike up myself," he said as the lawnmower roared to life.

Ronald flew forward, riding on his scythe and staring the demon down with a scowl. Sebastian leapt out of the way and Ronald lashed out with him. Sebastian dodged and winced as he heard the sound of tearing fabric. His crimson eyes met the shinigami in front of him who was holding a sharp knife in one of his hands.

"Paint him red!" Grell cheered.

"Need a hand?" Victoria asked as she pulled out her spade.

The two shinigami rushed the demon who could only dodge their attacks. They had him on the ropes and Sebastian frowned as he knew he was at a slight disadvantage facing two of them.

"Grell! Get over here!" Victoria called out to the love struck shinigami.

His chainsaw roared to life and he cried out in ecstasy as he leapt forward.

"Everyone _stop_!"

The lawnmower and chainsaw went silent and everyone stopped moving as they saw the earl moving down the stairs with an angry look on his face.

"What is the meaning of this?" he spat.

"Perfect," Ronald nodded, "We have a few questions for you."

"And you had to wake me up like this?"

"We asked politely," Ronald shrugged and pointed at Sebastian, "But _he_ got in the way."

Sebastian smiled in response and bowed to the earl, "I'm sorry young master, I've failed in my duties, allowing these intruders to wake you at such a late hour."

"Since when do shinigami have questions for me?" Ciel asked.

"We can't tell him about the emergency," Victoria elbowed Grell who looked torn.

"Will never said we couldn't tell anyone! Our job was to bring the death scythes back! He didn't specify how!" Grell sputtered.

"Death scythes?" Ciel questioned.

"Damn it," Ronald shook his head, "I'm really grouchy since I haven't slept a tick, let's hurry this up."

Grell rolled his eyes and turned to Ciel, "Have you noticed anything odd that happened between now and last night?"

"Odd as in what?" Ciel asked.

"Oh, I'd say anything involving an excessive amount of murder, crime, mayhem."

"Have you by chance lost some of your death scythes?" Sebastian asked, "I thought those were kept out of the hands of those who weren't active reapers."

"They are," Victoria confirmed.

"So you're trying to hunt down whoever stole these scythes and the scythes themselves?" Ciel questioned.

"Yes!" Grell nodded, "Will sent us all out to work on this so it's important we do this as quickly as possible before horrible things start happening."

"I can't say that anything out of the ordinary has happened, has it Sebastian?"

"No, it hasn't."

"Well this was useless," Ronald pouted.

"It was," Victoria agreed with a sigh.

"It was _not_," Grell argued, "I got to see Sebas_-chan_ and there's nothing useless about that!"

Ronald rolled his eyes and reached out; grabbing Grell by the back of his shirt, "Let's go."

Ciel and Sebastian watched as the blonde reaper dragged a flailing Grell out the front door. Victoria followed behind them and pulled the doors closed.

She curled her lip and gave them a small bow, "Sorry for disturbing you."

Sebastian smirked and the doors clicked closed. Outside Victoria shook her head in disgust as the trio paused in the front yard of the Phantomhive manor.

"Bowing to a demon… such a disgrace!" Victoria spat.

Ronald stared down at the ground where Grell was sulking and let out a sigh. He crossed his arms and looked up at the night sky where all was quiet except for the wind that blew through the trees.

"Where should we go now…" Ronald trailed off, looking down at his watch and frowning, "Overtime is stacking up."

"We can't go back until we find a scythe or unless we're told to come back," Victoria said.

Grell adjusted his glasses, the chain dangling from them swaying, "Let's go and search the city, we'll see if anything odd is happening there."

"Sure, why not, we've got nothing to lose," Ronald said with a frown, stepping on his death scythe.

The three shinigami set off at a quick pace toward the city. As they were leaving the Phantomhive estate Victoria glanced over her shoulder and saw a dark figure looming in one of the windows of the manor. She instantly knew it was the demon butler and his red eyes seemed to glow as he stared out at them. She shuddered and chills ran down her spine as the group continued on. That wasn't an ordinary demon, she should feel disgusted and repulsed by him in every way but instead he had the ability to draw her in. She felt like she needed to investigate him further and it was like a predator allowing its prey to get close before it snapped. Victoria let out a sigh as they landed on the outer rim of London and started moving across the rooftops. She decided that avoidance would be her best tactic, if she wasn't around him he wouldn't be able to draw her in. Victoria glanced at Grell, it was no wonder he couldn't keep his mind off of the demon butler; she had the urge to ask him why. She decided against it because Grell would freak out and say 'I told you so' if he ever found out she felt intrigued by Sebastian as well. Grell looked over his shoulder and gave her a suspicious look, and Victoria frowned, she was definitely going to keep her mouth shut. For the next several hours the three shinigami scoured the city without success until the sun started to come up on the horizon. The trio was exhausted and their clothes disheveled. They were in poor spirits and Ronald looked like he was on the verge of collapse from lack of sleep.

"Should we go back?" Ronald asked tiredly.

"We can't, Will would reap us himself if we came back to sleep during an emergency like this," Victoria replied.

"I don't know if I can make it much longer fellas," Ronald huffed, leaning heavily over the handle of his death scythe.

"Maybe we should get some rest, then we could get back to it with fresh eyes and energy," Victoria shrugged.

"I'm not opposed, I'm in desperate need of beauty rest," Grell proclaimed.

"Let's find a hotel," Ronald said, "A _good_ one, I've got a bag of cash on me."

"Of course you do… is it your party money to go to bars when you're down here?" Victoria asked.

"So what if it is?"

"Let's go to that one!" Grell pointed at a building which could be seen in the distance.

"Sounds good," Ronald said, as the three of them started making their way to the hotel.

They entered the extravagant building and approached the front desk. The receptionist stared at them with a bizarre expression. They were dirty, tired, holding gardening tools, and sleep deprived which made the three look quite out of place in such a luxurious hotel.

"Can I help you?"

Ronald pulled out his wallet and said, "We need a room for three."

"For the day?"

Ronald's face dropped, that's right, they were going to be sleeping during the day since they had been up all night. He nodded and placed a large sum of cash on the counter. She turned around and grabbed two room keys; sliding them over the counter surface. Ronald grabbed one and tossed the other to Grell.

"You're just not ready yet," Grell winked at Victoria who curled her lip.

They made their way up several floors until they were standing in front of their room. Inside there were two queen sized beds with a balcony outside. Grell turned around with a grin and pointed at the bed near the window.

"That's mine!"

Ronald and Victoria looked at each other and sighed as they sat down on the other bed. Grell pulled the curtains closed to block out the morning light and the room went dark. Victoria pulled her glasses off and tried to polish them with her sleeve. She glanced over her shoulder as the bed moved under her to see Ronald flopping down under the covers with an exhausted sigh. She placed her spectacles on the night stand and reluctantly slid under the sheets as well. Victoria felt extremely dirty sleeping in clothes she had worn all night and knew she'd have to wear them until they returned home. A few moments later she heard her partner's deep breathing next to her indicating he was asleep. She rolled over and slid his glasses off of his face so he wouldn't bend them if he tossed and turned. She placed them next to hers and then closed her eyes. Victoria's mind was abuzz as she tried to fall asleep. Her brain tried to come up with possible locations for the death scythes and at the same time it lingered on the image of the haughty Phantomhive manor. She tried to block out the thought of the butler dressed in black but for some reason his red eyes continued to burn brightly in the back of her head.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Sorry for the update drought, next week is finals week for my semester and I've been studying like crazy for exams since then. This summer will be great though because I'm not taking summer classes for once! So I'll have plenty of time to update my stories! :)**

_**A/N: As of 8-11-2013 this story was tweaked a bit. I lost inspiration for it a few months ago because of a few nasty reviews. So this time I'll say, if you don't like it, DON'T read it. I really don't appreciate the negativity, I thought about deleting the story entirely, but I decided that wouldn't be fair to the people who have kindly reviewed and followed this story. This is my story, if there are some things that are historically inaccurate, deal with it, I'm not a historian.**_

_**A thank you goes out to SP00K who always supports me in all of my work! Also a thank you to the other kind reviewers and followers! If it wasn't for you, this story would have been erased.**_

"Oy! Wake up!"

Victoria opened her eyes slowly to see Ronald staring down at her. She groaned and pulled the sheets back over her head. There were sounds of rustling around the room and the shinigami squeezed her eyes shut tightly, there was no way that they had gotten very much sleep.

"Come on Vicky, let's go, up and at 'em!" Ronald said as he unceremoniously ripped the sheets off of mound on the bed.

Victoria gritted her teeth and sat up slowly; rubbing her eyes. She glanced around the room where she saw light filtering through the curtains.

"What time is it?" she asked in a rough voice, reaching up to touch her hair.

Ronald glanced down at his watch and said, "Early evening, time's not really important."

Victoria scowled as she tried to run her fingers through her wild hair which was terribly disheveled after sleeping on it. The female reaper reached for her glasses and put them on quickly as the room instantly became clear. She stood up and walked to the bathroom where she paused in the doorway upon seeing Grell parked on a stool in front of a makeup mirror.

"What are you doing?" Victoria asked.

Grell turned to face her and screwed the cap of a mascara bottle back on.

"Just because you choose to not care about your appearance doesn't mean I'm not going to take pride in myself. What if I run into Sebas-_chan_?"

Ronald rolled his eyes from his seat on the corner of the bed, "Leave that scoundrel demon out of this. He's a leech!"

Grell bolted upright and shoved Victoria, causing her to stumble backwards and hit the wall. The red haired shinigami charged at Ronald and grabbed him around the neck. Ronald's glasses flew off as his back hit the bed. The pair struggled back and forth; both shouting insults at one another.

"Don't you _ever_ talk about him like that!" Grell shouted, "He's a beautiful sexy man! I wouldn't expect someone like _you_ to understand! You _wish_ you had half of Sebas-_chan_'s looks!"

"Get off of me! I'll never apologize for insulting that bastard demon! He's a pest who makes our job harder than it needs to be!" Ronald sputtered.

As they continued wrestling Victoria walked over to where Ronald's glasses were on the floor and she picked them up. She cleaned them carefully with a tissue from the bathroom and inspected them for scratches.

"Ronald, if Will finds out you aren't wearing these he's going to be really angry."

The young shinigami paused and stared up at Grell's face, "No wonder I can't see your ugly mug!"

Grell gasped and flew off of Ronald with an injured expression, "How dare you call a lady's face ugly!"

Ronald stood and took his spectacles from Victoria gratefully, "I guess not having great vision can have its advantages."

"Jerk!" Grell spat.

Ronald ignored the insult, "We need to get back at it, I want to finish this up. It's ridiculous how bloody long we've been on this job, the overtime is piling up faster than I've ever seen and I don't like it one bit."

Victoria shrugged, "I'm not terribly opposed to overtime, but I _am_ opposed to not getting sleep. So I'd like to finish it up as well."

Grell grabbed his death scythe with a scowl, "Then let's get to it."

…

The trio had been over the entire city once again and had no luck in finding anything. The sun had set and it was night time once again.

"I'm going to report to Will," Grell said, "Maybe he'll know something new that we can use. Can you two behave yourselves while I'm gone?"

Ronald and Victoria both nodded slowly with frowns on their faces as the red reaper disappeared over the rooftops. The air that night was especially cold and there was a sharp wind blowing through the area. Victoria was staring down at a pond lazily when she noticed several shadows zip through the sky quickly in the distance. She spun around only to see Ronald who had spotted another group of shadows moving in the opposite direction. He shouted something over his shoulder and before she knew it he was chasing after the group. Victoria immediately tried to follow him but her partner vanished before she could do anything.

"What on earth…" she mumbled to herself as she suddenly saw another dark figure follow the path of the ones she had seen earlier.

Victoria didn't like the idea of splitting up but in the heat of the moment she started to chase the retreating shadow. As she leapt from rooftop to rooftop she started to tire from her lack of sleep. Her breaths were coming in short pants which were turning white in the icy air around her. She finally came to a stop at an old cemetery where there was a small group of cloaked individuals standing in a circle. Her eyes grew wide as she noticed they were all holding death scythes.

"Damn it all Ron!" she sputtered under her breath as she debated on what to do.

Victoria's hands trembled on the handle of her scythe from the cold and the panic welling up inside of her. Her body tensed as she prepared herself in case they realized her presence on top of the nearby mausoleum. She didn't have a chance against that many death scythes.

"Oh, I see you're in quite the predicament."

Adrenaline shot through Victoria's body and her eyes went wide as she instinctively swung her scythe at the form that had appeared beside her. In seconds she found herself staring down at Sebastian Michaelis. His dark red eyes glared back up at her and a frown graced his features as he firmly gripped the handle of the death scythe that was being pushed down onto him. He pushed it up and back toward the shinigami who was hovering over him.

"What's that stench?!"

"There's someone on the roof of that mausoleum!"

"It's a demon! Kill it!"

Victoria gritted her teeth, "Nice going! This is all your fault you moron!"

"You're not very polite for a lady, are you?" Sebastian said as he shoved the death scythe roughly in her direction, knocking her backwards.

She opened her mouth to shout back at him and realized that the group of cloaked figures were already in the air with their scythes poised for attack. Victoria held her weapon up defensively and gasped as she watched a scythe move in a cutting motion at her. She pulled back and retreated, instantly remembering her lessons in reaper school. She thought back to the statement of, "A death scythe can cut through anything". It was a flawed statement, and Victoria knew that other death scythes could not cut through her own but it didn't make her any less scared of the idea of being cut in half. She had never been in a death scythe match where she could be killed before. Humans weren't really capable of killing a shinigami, only other supernatural beings had that ability. Three cloaked figures charged her and Victoria evaded their attacks and tried to get away from them; darting around the cemetery.

"I didn't know the lesson plans in the reaper schools had become so lackluster, what poor fighting skills you have! And you're a woman no less! You can't be a successful reaper!" one of the figures shouted at her in a husky voice.

Across the cemetery Sebastian had his hands full with a group of five surrounding him. They lashed out with death scythes at him and he barely avoided their attacks. The demon was honestly concerned about the fight… five death scythes made for poor odds of living through the night. He heard insults being thrown at the female shinigami across the way and he quite frankly agreed with them. The girl was running around like a frightened deer… was that death scythe in her hands an accessory? Sebastian was beginning to doubt she'd last much longer and was soon expecting eight death scythes to be after him. The demon evaded another slash when he heard the two words 'woman' and 'can't' used together. A small smirk spread across his features as he remembered back to the visit at the mansion where he had been forced to listen to that woman's feminist rant… maybe that's what she needed to light a fire underneath her.

"Wake up you silly girl," he muttered as he threw an assortment of knives at an oncoming opponent.

Victoria paused and her mouth dropped open slightly. She couldn't believe she was being such a stupid coward. Ronald and Grell weren't there to bail her out and this situation was all on her. She needed to pull her head out of her ass and do her job, and running away wasn't in the description. At least she wasn't completely alone… Sebastian was fighting against them too, although she didn't really know if he was on _her_ side. Victoria took a huge breath and dug her heels into the cemetery earth; she turned and faced her assailants with a determined expression.

"**Being**," she started as she murderously lashed out with her scythe, "**a woman**," she continued as one of her opponents fell, "**has nothing to do with being a great death god**!"

The other two cloaked individuals paused as Victoria's eyes glowed with anger. They looked over to where their comrades were fighting with Sebastian and one spoke loudly.

"Let's leave for now, we don't have time for this little squabble!"

Sebastian watched as the figures around him sped off and he caught his balance. As he steadied himself he saw two of the figures rush Victoria from behind. Before a word could be said the entire group was gone and the female shinigami was pulling herself off of the ground.

"No! No! No!" she shouted out in a panicked voice as her head shot from right to left.

Sebastian approached the girl and paused next to her as she slumped down to her knees. She clawed at the ground in panic mumbling to herself.

"My glasses! I can't see!"

Sebastian's eyes shot to the side where the aquamarine spectacles were resting in the damp grass. He reached out and grabbed them; handing them to the girl slowly. Victoria snatched them and pushed them on her face quickly before blanching.

"They stole my scythe! How could I let them do that?! I can't get back to the others without it! I can't fight, I can't do anything without it!" she exclaimed with a pale expression.

Sebastian knelt down next to the fallen member of the cloaked group and grabbed the dark material. He pulled it roughly off of the body only to see a silver dust fall from the cloth. He narrowed his dark eyes and stood up with a thoughtful expression. He stared up at the sky where stars and a bright moon were present. Victoria muttered hysterically below him and tears started to leak from the corners of her eyes.

"Maybe they're right! I'm a girl and I'm not cut out for this! Maybe I can't do anything!"

Sebastian shook his head in slight irritation, "Perhaps you should quit whining and concentrate on your plan to get your scythe back."

Victoria stood up and poked at his chest with a strong finger, "How the hell am I supposed to get it back when I don't have any type of weapon?!"

"That's your job to figure out, not mine."

Victoria growled, "Where's Ronald?! I'm going to wring his neck for leaving me alone!"

Sebastian stared at her from the corner of his eye and lightly sniffed the air. Victoria's eyebrows shot up and she didn't miss the small movement.

"You can find him, can't you? Take me to him!"

Sebastian let out a small chuckle, "No."

"You bastard demon! Take me to him!" she roared, "Our entire organization is in crisis! I don't have time to mess around like this!"

"There's nothing in it for me, and my master has ordered me to do no such thing," he replied simply.

"Try being a decent person!" she snapped.

Sebastian shook his head as another cold breeze sliced through the air around them, "I'm not decent, and I'm not a person in the normal respect."

Victoria let out a huff and turned away, looking over her shoulder, "Screw you, I have more important things to do than play word games with a demon!"

He watched as she sprinted off into the darkness shouting her companion's name at the top of her lungs.


	4. Chapter 4

_**A/N: As of 8-11-2013 this story was tweaked a bit. I lost inspiration for it a few months ago because of a few nasty reviews. So this time I'll say, if you don't like it, DON'T read it. I really don't appreciate the negativity, I thought about deleting the story entirely, but I decided that wouldn't be fair to the people who have kindly reviewed and followed this story. This is my story, if there are some things that are historically inaccurate, deal with it, I'm not a historian.**_

_**A thank you goes out to SP00K who always supports me in all of my work! Also a thank you to the other kind reviewers and followers! If it wasn't for you, this story would have been erased.**_

"**Ron**!" Victoria shouted desperately as she raced through the dark streets of the inner city.

The cold night air was cutting through her clothes and the shinigami shivered. Panicking was and understatement as to how she was feeling. Her death scythe was gone, her partner was nowhere to be found, and she had failed her mission. She had found the group which had possession of the stolen scythes, but she wasn't able to get any of them back and they had gained hers in the process. Victoria knew that without her spade she was useless as a death god and wouldn't be able to get back to The Shinigami Dispatch Society. William was going to tear her to pieces and probably strip her of her dispatch officer title. She'd be stuck sitting at a desk like that mean woman who worked in the General Affairs Department for the rest of her life. The entire thought process was horrifying and she raced faster through the city. Her voice was fading and she leapt onto one of the rooftops.

Victoria wrinkled her nose as sooty smoke from a nearby chimney blew directly into her face. She paused for a moment as her mind drifted to the idea of a warm fire… a _red_ fire. Suddenly her mind was filled with images of _red_ eyes, that _demon's_ red eyes. Why on earth did it have to be _him_ that she ran into? She was already having contradictory thoughts about him that a shinigami should _never_ have.

"Neutrality, neutrality, neutrality," Victoria mumbled under her breath repeatedly, taking a deep breath and then coughing as black smoke went down her throat.

It was her job to remain completely neutral when it involved angels, demons, and humans. The shinigami around her despised demons and weren't very fond of angels. Collecting souls and making proper judgment on the collection of the souls was the sole occupation of the grim reaper. Victoria wasn't sure if there was a punishment for developing a relationship with another being that wasn't a shinigami. She winced at the thought, that had probably never happened before because no one would be that twisted. Victoria hung her head in shame, was she twisted because she thought that a demon was attractive? Grell was positively obsessed with him, but no one seemed to care… probably because everyone assumed he'd never be crazy enough to actually try to start something with a demon.

Victoria huffed and adjusted her glasses. She didn't have time to be thinking about silly things like this. She was in the middle of a crisis and needed to find Ronald, Grell, or another death god as soon as possible. The sky seemed to get darker as she moved and the wind suddenly stopped. Victoria glanced up at the dark abyss above her and realized that the stars were suddenly absent because an army of clouds had covered them. A spec of water appeared on the lens of her glasses and shortly after a downpour of icy rain showered down.

"Damn it all," Victoria sputtered, trying to shield her already spattered glasses.

The rain was loud and the wind started blowing again; even harder than before. There was no way that she was going to be able to find anyone in this kind of weather. Victoria was torn, should she give up? Or should she push on? It seemed useless as well as dangerous to go on in such conditions without a weapon to protect herself. She slid down the side of the roof and landed on the cobblestone road. Victoria's eyes widened slightly as she recognized where she was and instantly took it as a sign which made her decision for her. She began running again down a long road which would take her to the haughty Phantomhive manor. At least she would be out of the weather and could gather her thoughts before continuing. The shinigami didn't want to admit it but she also secretly wanted to see that butler clad in black and yell at him again for not helping her in the first place.

…..

Sebastian sat at his desk and quickly ran through the budgets he had finished. His red eyes scanned the papers thoroughly before placing them in the completed stack. He let out a content sigh and stood, taking note of the late hour as he grabbed a nearby candle. He walked through the dark and silent mansion with a frown on his face. That female shinigami was a moron and if he wouldn't have been there she would have gotten herself killed. How could someone who ran from a fight be a shinigami? He had been under the impression they only chose the best of the best to be dispatch officers. Sebastian wrinkled his eyebrows as the thought of Grell popped into his mind. Even though he couldn't stand the red haired reaper he had to admit that he was skilled with his scythe in combat. A sudden banging jogged him from his thoughts and he stopped in mid stride.

"Who could be knocking at this hour? How rude…" Sebastian muttered as he started to make his way to the front of the manor.

The banging continued and Sebastian pulled the door open with a displeased expression.

"I'd appreciate it if you would stop that, my master is trying to _sleep_," he said in a venomous tone as the door was swinging open.

Once his eyes landed on the guest a small smirk spread across his features as he spoke with a hint of sarcasm, "Well now, isn't this a surprise."

Victoria pushed her way past the butler and she heard the door shut behind her. She was sopping wet and there wasn't a dry thing on her. Water dripped from her hair, clothes, and her nose onto the floor.

"Forcing your way into someone else's house at this hour and having a sour attitude about it is such an unappealing behavior for a young lady," Sebastian said and added, "I just cleaned these floors…"

"Once the storm stops, I'll leave," Victoria spat.

"I don't believe we're familiar with each other… if you're going to come barging into the manor at night as though we're acquaintances, you should at least tell me your name."

Victoria huffed and pulled her black gloves off, wringing them out. Water fell nosily onto the floor and Sebastian's eyes glowed.

"I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't do that, I'll take you to a washroom to clean yourself up so you'll stop soiling the rest of the house."

"I don't need your hospitality! I need to wait this weather out so I can go back out and find my partner!" Victoria hissed.

"Obviously you do need it…" Sebastian muttered, "Or you wouldn't have come here in the first place. _Your name_?"

Victoria frowned, "I don't want to know your name… but I do, because Grell talks about you _all_ the time, it's horrible! Sebas-chan this, Sebas-chan that! I don't know you but I'm already sick of you…"

The butler's expression darkened, "Sebas_tian_," he corrected.

Victoria gave him a small grin, "Don't act so offended, we both know that you're a demon and you don't have a name, that's a _pet_ name given to you by the soul you're stealing."

Sebastian watched as she continued to wring her gloves and he snatched them irritably. She stared at him with a shocked expression and the butler pointed to the stairs.

"I'll take you to a washroom, soaking the floor is unacceptable and an unnecessary mess that I'll have to clean up."

Victoria glared at him but said nothing. She wordlessly followed after him until he opened a door to one of the rooms in the hall. He motioned for her to go in and she watched the demon carefully through her water stained lenses.

"Put your wet clothes in that basket."

Victoria took note of the direction he was pointing and looked back up at him.

"There's a robe you can put on until I dry these out."

Her mouth opened slightly and then the butler shut the door in her face. She turned around slowly and started taking her water logged clothing off. She grabbed the robe and slipped into it; scowling at how her skin was still wet and clammy. The smooth material slid onto her roughly and her hair dripped cold water onto her now covered shoulders. Victoria cautiously opened the door with the basket in her hands. She stepped out into the hallway and looked around curiously until the basket was being stripped from her grasp.

"Come on," Sebastian nodded, "You need to dry that ragged mess you call hair out. So untidy… not ladylike at all," the butler muttered under his breath.

Victoria found herself being pushed down into a chair which sat next to a blazing fire. She watched as Sebastian pulled each article of her clothing out of the basket. He situated each so it was spread out and next to the fire to start drying.

"Why on earth are you being so nice to me?" Victoria suddenly asked.

Sebastian folded his arms. The room they were in was completely dark, only being illuminated by the flickering flames. His eyes glistened in the firelight and he stared down at the shinigami who was looking up at him with aquamarine pools. He noticed her stained glasses and quickly snatched them off of her face. He pulled a rag from one of his pockets and immediately began cleaning them.

"I don't know," Sebastian said lowly, "I'm not sure why I'm being so hospitable to a rude girl who won't even tell me her name."

Victoria's eyebrows shot up and she tried to run her fingers through her messy hair. She had to admit that he had a point. He had been unreasonably nice to her and she had been a total brat. Her entire life she'd been under the impression that demons should be treated like the disgusting creatures they were. From what she was seeing, she didn't know why shinigami hated demons so much other than the fact they stole souls… they didn't seem so bad. Maybe it was just _this_ demon, but he was okay so far.

"My name is Victoria," she muttered, her eyes shooting to the floor in embarrassment.

A small smirk spread across Sebastian's face and Victoria spoke again, "I apologize for acting like such a heathen but I've never heard of a demon who wasn't a scoundrel or a leech. Although I suppose you are a leech considering you're using that boy for a quick meal."

"Perhaps you aren't as undignified as I thought you were," Sebastian noted, "Maybe there is some politeness in there after all."

Victoria uncomfortably crossed her legs and watched the demon standing beside her carefully. The warmth of the fire was soothing and her lack of sleep was hitting her like a ton of bricks. Her eyes fluttered and her head drooped as she tried to stay awake.

Sebastian chuckled, "Ah yes, the great shinigami need their sleep don't they?"

"So what?" Victoria said, "Everyone needs sleep."

The butler shook his head, "Not true."

"Let me guess… demons don't sleep do they? I should have known that."

"One can get so much more done if they're awake all of the time," Sebastian said.

Victoria shrugged, "I like sleeping, I'd miss out on dreaming if I didn't do it."

Sebastian gave her a strange look, "Dreaming? What's useful about that?"

"It's nothing _useful_ but it's enjoyable. It's kind of an escape from whatever your reality is, just for the night."

"It still sounds useless."

"Think what you want…" Victoria trailed off and then asked, "I know you say you don't sleep, but _can _you?"

The demon butler nodded slightly, "Of course I can, I'm not incapable of doing it. I choose not to waste my time."

Victoria's eyelids closed and she mumbled, "Well, if you don't mind, I'm going to take a bit of a snooze. I'm exhausted and I need to be clear headed to figure out what I'm going to do next."

Sebastian watched as the shinigami slid down in the chair and rested her head on the back of it. A small smile was on her face and he quickly noticed how her breathing became slower and starting getting deeper.

"Such a waste," he muttered.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews everyone! And to Paxloria, you totally read my mind! Bard and the others were asleep this time, but… well read and see!**

_**A/N: As of 8-11-2013 this story was tweaked a bit. I lost inspiration for it a few months ago because of a few nasty reviews. So this time I'll say, if you don't like it, DON'T read it. I really don't appreciate the negativity, I thought about deleting the story entirely, but I decided that wouldn't be fair to the people who have kindly reviewed and followed this story. This is my story, if there are some things that are historically inaccurate, deal with it, I'm not a historian.**_

_**A thank you goes out to SP00K who always supports me in all of my work! Also a thank you to the other kind reviewers and followers! If it wasn't for you, this story would have been erased.**_

"Bloody bastards…" Ronald muttered under his breath as he held an injured arm close to his body.

The reaper had followed the fleeing group of figures only to get ambushed. He had suffered several wounds from their death scythes and almost had lost his own scythe in the process. They seemed more intent on stealing his weapon than they did fighting him. Ronald was starting to feel like splitting up hadn't been the best idea. He was soaked to the bone by the cold rain and barely walking on top of that. His suit was ruined and the motor to his mower needed some serious attention after that fight. Ronald huffed as he continued moving in the pursuit of his partner.

"Yoo hoo!"

Ronald paused as Grell peeked over his shoulder with a grin.

"Will wants us to return so we can regroup."

"Have any of the others ran into those bastards?" Ronald asked with narrowed yellow-green eyes.

Grell nodded, "A few… it seems like there's a lot more than we first thought, we're sitting ducks out here."

Ronald scowled, "I'm _aware_."

Grell looked the shinigami up and down and frowned, "You look horrid."

"I believe medical care would be appropriate," he snapped, "But Vicky is gone and I can't find her."

Grell shrugged, "She'll figure it out, Will wants us to come back now."

Ronald sighed and looked around slowly, "I don't like the idea of leaving her out there alone. Maybe she's hurt like I am and can't move."

"Too much chit chat, come on, let's go back."

"Right…"

….

"Finny! Come here will you?"

Mey-Rin and Finny stumbled around the corner at the sharp whisper. The manor was slowly beginning to light up as the early morning hours passed by.

"It's a _woman_," Bard sputtered, peering into the room where the fire was out with the exception of a few glowing cinders.

"Where did she come from?" Mey-Rin asked.

"And why are her clothes not _on_ her?" Finny frowned worriedly.

"She has a robe on you know, it's not indecent!" Mey-Rin retorted.

Bard looked thoughtful as he stared at the sleeping form. His eyes went to her clothes and then landed on the glasses that were sitting on a stand next to the chair.

"That's one of the three visitors we had! I answered the door and they barged in making a racquet wanting to speak with the young master. It was late and Sebastian got pretty pissed about it!" Bard exclaimed in realization.

The three were silent and continued to stare into the room until a dark shadow suddenly loomed over them.

"If you three are up early enough to be poking around then you should be waking up this early e_very_ morning to start your day's _work_."

"Sebastian!" Mey-Rin sputtered with a bright blush, "We didn't mean to! Bard saw her and we were just curious…"

"Curious…" Sebastian trailed off, "Not an acceptable reason, since you're all up, you should start on your tasks for the day."

The three servants bowed their heads and retreated quickly. Sebastian watched them until they were long gone and slowly moved into the room. He stared down at the still sleeping shinigami with a puzzled expression. There was something so wrong about a demon taking care of a death god. They were from completely different worlds and had absolutely nothing in common. He found the thought of demonizing something that was supposed to be completely neutral a bit exhilarating and smirked at the idea of dragging the little thing down with him into darkness. Even though she was a shinigami she was young and completely inexperienced when it came to her job. The fright she had in her facial features when those cloaked individuals came after her filled him with intrigue and interest because she was still so pure and untainted. A fresh young woman such as herself was bound to be easy to twist and manipulate. The smirk on Sebastian's face grew wider, oh yes, he was going to enjoy this.

…

A straight line of dispatch officers stood rigid as William walked down the line with intense eyes.

"It seems as though the situation is worse than originally thought. It appears that a large group of individuals is involved and they possibly have greater numbers than we do," William said in a serious tone.

"Do we know who they are?" one of the officers asked.

William adjusted his glasses, "No, the identities of the culprits are unknown, but they are obviously shinigami considering they stole the scythes from here and are wielding them."

"Where are Knox and Ellis?"

"Mr. Knox is being treated for injuries sustained from his encounter with our enemy," William answered, "And Ms. Ellis… at the moment is missing."

William shot Grell a withering look and the red haired shinigami shrank back with an innocent grin. Earlier, William had given Grell and Ronald both a stern talking to. He scolded Ronald for splitting from his partner and lectured him on the importance of teamwork. Next, he had moved to Grell and ripped into the reaper for jeopardizing the entire operation since he was in charge of the trio. He conked Grell on the head and threated to demote him.

"Our prime objective is to retrieve the death scythes and I will say, do _not_ engage this group alone or you'll end up losing your scythe and your life, that is all."

The officers all nodded and the large line started to disperse. Grell began to flee the scene but William grabbed him firmly by his collar.

"You aren't going anywhere, you're staying here."

…

"Ow! Be gentle will ya?" Ronald barked out with a scowl as one of the nurses at the hospital treated him.

At the back of the dispatch society was a hospital used by the shinigami. It didn't receive much use because not many death gods got injured on the job, but it was still a necessity.

"Mr. Knox, can you please hold still?"

Ronald wriggled in the nurse's grasp. He was already angry because they had cut his suit jacket off of him and his undershirt. His arm and chest both had deep slash wounds made by death scythes which were in dire need of treatment. The doctor entered the room, an older shinigami and stared at his injuries through his spectacles.

"That must have been some fight you were in young lad."

Ronald nodded slowly and his glasses slid down his nose. He wrinkled his eyebrows and immediately tried to push them back up his nose with his hand.

"Stop moving your arm! I don't want to have to strap you down to the bed," the nurse snapped.

Ronald's slightly annoyed expression completely dropped and a sly smirk spread over his lips. He slowly leaned toward the nurse who was trying to clean his wound and raised his eyebrows.

"You'd like that wouldn't you?" he whispered, staring intently at her.

The female shinigami's eyes widened as she was caught in his gaze. A small blush spread across her cheeks and she shook her head.

"Just hold still."

…...

Victoria yawned and slowly opened her eyes. She immediately noticed how light it was and bolted upright.

"Oh no," she mumbled, scrambling to pull herself up.

"I see you're awake."

Her neck twisted rapidly to see Sebastian standing in the doorway with a tray that was holding an assortment of breakfast foods. She couldn't see them clearly but could smell them and her mouth watered.

"Feel free to get dressed, I'm quite busy," he told her and started walking away.

"Wait," she said suddenly and stopped herself as he turned around to look at her.

"Did you need something?" he questioned as he saw her eyes once again staring blankly at him.

"Er," she stuttered out, "No, I'm fine."

"Very well, I need to get my master his breakfast, show yourself out if necessary."

Victoria's jaw opened slightly. How could he be so nice and seem like he was genuinely concerned the previous night and then the next day not care in the slightest. Victoria shook her head and leaned down to grab her clothes only to see that everything around her was a huge blur. She let out a sigh, of course, her glasses, she had forgotten about them. Being nearsighted she couldn't see anything far away and felt like she was looking into a haze of blurred figures. Victoria dropped to her knees and started feeling around the floor and touching her clothes in search of the spectacles.

"Damn it all."

"What are you looking for miss?"

Victoria paused upon hearing a friendly voice behind her and answered, "My glasses."

Finny grinned and grabbed them off of the stand by the chair, "Here they are!" he proclaimed proudly.

Victoria grabbed them and put them on her face quickly. She turned and saw Finny smiling brightly at her.

"Thank you," she gave him a small nod.

Finny darted around and picked up all of her clothes and handed them to her in a pile sheepishly.

"I can take you somewhere to change if you like," he offered.

Victoria nodded, "That would be great."

…..

"How long do I have to stay here?" Ronald moaned from the hospital bed.

The shinigami was in a hospital gown with bandages wrapped around his chest and arm. He stared forlornly at his death scythe which sat in the corner of the room.

"We need to make sure that those wounds don't get any worse, they aren't ordinary after all, those cuts were made by death scythes. Your condition can go downhill quickly if not monitored properly," the doctor answered.

"I need to repair my scythe!" Ronald said, pointing at the mower.

"That can wait, you need to rest."

Ronald sat up, "I'm tellin' ya doc! I'm fine! Hey… what are you doing- _Hey_!"

The doctor smiled and Ronald stared at his arm where the older shinigami had just injected him with something. The young officer slumped down roughly against the bed and his eyes fluttered until they closed and he fell into a drug induced sleep.

…..

Victoria straightened her bow around her neck and she smiled at her appearance in the mirror. At least she had her clothes back on and they were dry. She left the room where she changed and moved down the hall until she heard a boy's voice. She slowly made her way to a room where the door was slightly cracked.

"Why the hell did you let a reaper into the house?"

"I apologize, I did so rashly without thinking."

Victoria's eyebrows popped up as she recognized Sebastian's voice. She guessed that the young voice must belong to his 'master'.

"Why is it here?"

"She's had her scythe stolen my young lord, and was separated from the others."

"Don't tell me you want to keep her as a pet or something, we don't need another person with strange abilities in this house."

Victoria could tell that Sebastian was smirking, "Of course not, but what would you like me to do with her?"

"Do what you want, you're the one who brought her in, I don't care, as long as it doesn't bother me or interfere with your work."

"Very well," Sebastian said with a small bow.

Victoria found herself stumbling backward and falling in the floor with an ungraceful thump. Sebastian exited the room and stared down at her with a small smile playing on his features.

"You're not very sneaky, are you? I knew you were out here the entire time."

"For your information I'm not your _pet_, and I'll never be inferior to some demon who is a child's butler!" Victoria told him as she pulled herself off of the floor.

Sebastian closed the door behind him slowly and in seconds he slammed the shinigami against the wall with heated eyes.

"Tell me what you intend to do since you seem to have everything _figured_ out."

Victoria's cheeks were blushing brightly and she tried to pull away from the butler. She swallowed dryly and felt like the bow around her neck was getting tighter.

"I don't know," she finally said breathlessly.

"You don't have a weapon, you can't go back to your friends, and you certainly can't fight," Sebastian said, and then added, "You can barely fight with a weapon."

Victoria's eyebrow twitched and she jerked her body sharply but the butler held her against the wall tightly.

"You jerk! I'm not going to make excuses, it was my fault, I'm fresh out of school and it's the first time I've encountered something like that… I froze up."

"If I wouldn't have been there, you'd be dead, so hopefully you don't _freeze_ up too often, because I won't always be around," the butler said lowly.

"Let go!" she squirmed, "I don't need you saving me or looking after me that's for damn sure!"

"You seem to be a bit flustered, I thought shinigami had a code of neutrality? Weren't you talking about that when we first met? You don't seem very neutral at the moment," Sebastian smirked.

Victoria huffed, "It's hard to be neutral when I've got a demon breathing down my neck!"

"One would expect a person in _that_ position to seem frightened," Sebastian noted, "I don't sense the faintest trace of fear from you, I see something very different."

He released her and Victoria took a few clumsy steps away from him, "Well maybe you need your eyes checked! Demons are a pain in the butt for dispatch officers like me to deal with! You steal my souls and make the job harder than it needs to be!"

The butler watched as she marched down the main staircase to the front door.

"I'm going to search for Ronald or whoever I can find," Victoria said as she put her hand on the door handle, "Thanks for the hospitality, I appreciate it."

"And what if you don't find what you're looking for?"

Victoria's eyes shot to the floor, "I don't know, I can't go anywhere without my scythe or one of my comrades."

"If you stay with me, you're bound to be found by that red haired reaper. He always seems to find me…" Sebastian trailed off with a look of distaste on his face.

Victoria paused, "I suppose you're right… going out and looking won't do much good, especially if I run into that group again."

Sebastian watched as she took her hand off of the door handle with a discouraged expression and started trudging back up the staircase toward him.

"What should I do…" she mumbled to herself.

Sebastian smirked at her inexperience. A more mature shinigami would never sink to asking a demon what they thought. But this girl was fresh and unmolded.

"You can assist me around the manor today."

Victoria's eyes shot up to stare at the demon butler who gave her a smile. She nodded slowly and followed him to the kitchen.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: I apologize if there was any confusion regarding the eyesight of shinigami, I wasn't thinking and put 'farsighted' in the last chapter which I have quickly changed because that is incorrect! Glad I caught it fast! They are extremely nearsighted! Also, I'll be honest, I think that Undertaker is a secret sexy beast and he knows it. I mean, in the manga, the way he acts and carries himself… I actually went back and reread the chapters with him on the Campania while writing this chapter. He's amazing, sorry I had to say something now enjoy!**

_**A/N: As of 8-11-2013 this story was tweaked a bit. I lost inspiration for it a few months ago because of a few nasty reviews. So this time I'll say, if you don't like it, DON'T read it. I really don't appreciate the negativity, I thought about deleting the story entirely, but I decided that wouldn't be fair to the people who have kindly reviewed and followed this story. This is my story, if there are some things that are historically inaccurate, deal with it, I'm not a historian.**_

_**A thank you goes out to SP00K who always supports me in all of my work! Also a thank you to the other kind reviewers and followers! If it wasn't for you, this story would have been erased.**_

Ronald groaned as consciousness returned to him. He felt like and elephant was sitting on his chest and his breathing was ragged. He turned his head to see the white wall of his hospital room and closed his eyes as he remembered being drugged.

"Doc!" he ground out in a rough voice.

No one came to the room and Ronald tried to sit up slowly and winced, his head swimming. The room seemed to shift around him and he grabbed his forehead with his hand.

"Mr. Knox! What are you doing?" the nurse cried, rushing into the room, "You need to lay back and rest!"

"There's no bloody time to rest! I need to fix my scythe and find Vicky! She's out there and no one's lookin' for her! I understand this is an important mission but my most important objective is to get my partner back safe and sound! It's my fault she missin' and I should have never left her!" Ronald exclaimed.

The nurse gave him a sympathetic expression, "I'm sorry but you can't leave, is there anything else I can do for you?"

"Well if I can't leave, tell Sutcliff to get in here, I'd like to have a word with him," Ronald replied.

"I'll see what I can do."

….

"Much better than I expected," Sebastian said with slight surprise as he watched Victoria's hands use a knife to quickly chop several vegetables into perfectly diced pieces.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Victoria asked as she placed the knife on the countertop.

"The other members of this household are… to be frank, useless when it comes to things other than causing destruction that I have to pick up after."

Victoria frowned, "That's not very nice, they can't be that bad, that boy with the strawberry-blonde hair helped me out earlier. He was really neat."

"Neat you say?" Sebastian said as he rolled the sleeves of his white shirt up.

He had taken his suit jacket off and had instructed Victoria to take her light blue one off as well. She also had removed her gloves and rolled up the sleeves to her black button up.

"He was a nice boy, that's all I'm saying. He helped me find my glasses."

Sebastian glanced over at the shinigami before taking a hunk of fresh frozen beef and placing it in the sink to thaw out.

"How bad is your eyesight?" he asked in a low tone.

"All shinigami are extremely nearsighted," Victoria answered simply.

Sebastian stared at the woman's vivid blue painted fingernails with intrigued eyes. Normally he wouldn't give a damn about shinigami and how their lives were. In this situation, however, it was completely different. Here he was with a rare supernatural being who was stuck on earth; unable to move back to her own realm. He found himself itching to ask a variety of questions but he restrained himself. He held the upper hand and he wasn't about put down his cards to show her his every move.

"Sebastian!"

The demon butler paused and turned to the entrance of the kitchen where Ciel Phantomhive was staring him down with sharp blue eyes.

"We need to go to Undertaker's."

"Very well then, I was starting dinner preparations for this evening but it can wait," Sebastian replied as he moved to the sink and washed his hands.

Victoria stared at the little boy who had a patch over his eye in surprise. This kid had that much power over a demon? Granted, she knew that their connection was probably a bit deeper than master and servant, but she didn't know much about demons or how they took souls.

"I'll come along," she suddenly said, "Maybe I'll run into one of the other dispatch officers."

Sebastian and Ciel both eyed the girl from different sides of the room and her eyes went to the floor.

"Sebastian, I told you that you could do what you wanted with her but I specifically said I didn't want her to interfere with your _work_," Ciel said with a scowl.

Victoria narrowed her eyes, "Listen here you little brat, it'll be like I don't exist, I won't speak or anything, alright?"

Ciel's jaw dropped open slightly and Sebastian's lips curved into an amused smile.

"What are you grinning at? Get yourself together, we're leaving!" Ciel snapped, swinging around and walking away with short stomping steps.

Victoria's eyes went to the butler and she shrugged as he stared at her, "_What_? I'm not going to let some _child_ talk to me like that. He needs to be taught some manners instead of ordering everyone around and getting what he wants… spoiled little thing."

In a flash Sebastian had his outer jacket back on and was motioning for her to follow him. He pulled an overcoat on and Victoria buttoned her own jacket back up.

"Tell me what it is with these reapers and their _colors_. There was the red one, Grell Sutcliff, who was completely inappropriate and perverse, and now we have a _blue_ one with a _nasty_ tongue and no manners," Ciel grumbled as he walked out of the front door.

"Are you sure you don't need another coat, it's quite chilly out today," Sebastian said as he held the door open.

"Absolutely not, it's not part of my uniform."

Sebastian watched her back as she marched by him, her heels clicking as she walked. He gently closed the door to the manor and followed after his master and the reaper.

….

"Mr. Knox, I was able to get ahold of Mr. Sutcliff as well as Mr. Spears," the nurse said, poking her head into the room.

Ronald sighed with relief and sat up slowly as the pair walked in. Grell walked in grinning at William who was wearing a deep frown.

Grell grinned and leapt forward, pulling at Ronald's hospital gown, "This is horrid! Not stylish at _all_!"

"Get off of me!" Ronald growled out, "I wouldn't be sitting in this bed if it wasn't for you ya know!"

"What was it that you needed?" William questioned, "I'm extremely busy, and to pull me away from my job at a time like this…"

"You've got to find Vicky, it's all my fault she's missing. I should have never left her by herself," Ronald said desperately.

"I'm sure she's fine," Grell rolled his eyes.

"And my scythe," Ronald continued, ignoring the red haired shinigami, "It needs to be repaired, but I'm obviously not in the shape to do it myself."

William nodded, "Grell, you take the scythe to the General Affairs Department."

The General Affairs Department was where death scythes could be modified. In the back there was a small section containing shinigami who were especially skilled in mechanical arts that could modify and repair all death scythes.

"You think they'll be able to fix it? I don't want them changing it in _any_ way," Ronald said in a serious voice.

"It'll return to you in pristine condition looking exactly as it did before, I'll make sure of that," William replied.

"Thanks, that's one worry out of the way but what are you going to do about Vicky?"

William adjusted his glasses and turned to the shinigami next to him, "Grell and I will search for her."

"We will?" Grell asked in surprise.

"Yes, once we drop off the scythe, we're heading to London."

Grell clapped his hands together, "Oh goodness! Maybe we'll run into Sebas_-chan_!"

…

Victoria sat in silence across from Ciel and Sebastian in the carriage as they headed toward the city. She didn't say a word and stared out the window with a frown. She was really worried about Ronald and the other reapers. Her mind kept wandering back to the shadowy figures who had stolen her scythe. Would she ever get it back? She sincerely hoped so and not knowing was driving her crazy.

The carriage stopped and Sebastian got up first; opening the door. Victoria stood up but Ciel brushed by her as he exited. She curled her lip at the boy and slowly got out after him. She stared at the run down building in front of her and her expression fell. Why were they at a funeral parlor? She followed Sebastian and Ciel into the building where the smell of must hit her nose.

"Hello little earl, what brings you here today?"

"I want to know about the large number of people who have been killed recently."

Undertaker grinned and said, "For the price… oh my, what is that behind your butler?"

Sebastian glanced over his shoulder and stepped out of the way so that the Undertaker could see Victoria. He took small steps toward her and brushed her cheek with one of his long black fingernails.

"Those glasses are oddly familiar," he said with a hint of knowing and a grin.

Victoria stared at the odd man and narrowed her eyes. He definitely wasn't a human, so what was he?

"I'll show you for free today since you brought someone as _unique_ as her here today…" Undertaker trailed off and then looked at her gloved hands, "Aren't you missing something?"

Victoria's eyebrows shot up and she stepped back instinctively. She had definitely been right, this guy wasn't a human, was it possible he was a deserter? He didn't have glasses on, she didn't think, but it was almost impossible to tell with his hair the way it was. He also didn't carry a scythe, but he obviously knew about her lack of one.

"Follow me," Undertaker said, motioning for them.

Sebastian and Ciel moved after him but Victoria stayed put. She wasn't going with him, what if he was one of the cloaked individuals and was mocking her because he knew who stole her scythe! She decided to slip off into a side room of the parlor to avoid the group standing around several coffins. There were tall dusty shelves which had jars containing what looked like a variety of body parts floating in a preserving liquid. Victoria frowned distastefully and tapped her gloved finger against one of the glass containers. Suddenly she felt a hand snake its way around her shoulder and she inhaled with a startled expression. She swung around to see Undertaker grinning at her.

"What are you doing in here dearie?" he asked in a low voice.

She could hear Ciel and Sebastian out in the main room talking to one another and she gulped.

"A shinigami without a scythe… how sad," Undertaker said.

"Who are you? And do you know who took it?" Victoria asked in a hushed whisper.

Undertaker brushed her wild bangs away from her eyes with his long black fingernails. He leaned in close to her ear and smirked.

"I'm Undertaker, didn't your new _friends_ tell you that? I suggest you find a way to get your scythe back or you'll be on the wrong end of one and laying in one of my coffins," he told her, sounding a bit too excited.

Victoria froze and stared at the long bangs that covered his eyes. In a flash she reached for his face and he dodged out of her grasp. At the last second her pinky brushed a section of hair as he moved and Victoria saw a flash of shimmering green. She sucked in sharply and her eyes grew wide.

"You're a shinigami too aren't you?"

Undertaker started chuckling, "I haven't been called that in a really long time… over a century I'd say."

"You don't have glasses, so that means you're a deserter aren't you?"

"Too many questions, young people are such chatter boxes, probably because they know _nothing_ and have no idea when to keep their mouths _shut_."

Victoria pursed her lips, "Do you know this group who stole the death scythes from the society?"

"I don't," Undertaker stated and then chuckled, "But if I didn't have my scythe anymore, I'd reckon that I would want it back and would do anything to get it."

"You… you still have yours? It was supposed to be confiscated when you retired!" Victoria exclaimed.

Undertaker grinned widely, "I never said I _still_ had mine, that was hypothetical thinking."

"Let's get going, I have all I need."

Victoria heard Ciel and Sebastian walking across the wooden floor and she glared at Undertaker with a scowl. She knew he was playing mind games with her and was keeping secrets. What a mysterious man… it made her want to find Ronald more than ever so she could get back to the Dispatch Management Division. Sebastian paused in front of the door and looked into the small room where he saw Undertaker in very close proximity with Victoria. Her back was against the shelves and her pupils were large.

"We'll be going now," the butler stated.

"Right!" Victoria sputtered.

She awkwardly slid around Undertaker and scampered out the front door before the earl. Sebastian continued to stare at the funeral director and gave him a sharp glare. Undertaker grinned in response and the butler followed his group out of the parlor. Once they were gone, Undertaker emerged from the small room and opened up his long black cloak he wore and pulled out his long death scythe. His green eyes glowed underneath his bangs and he grinned widely as he stroked the weapon fondly.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Thanks to everyone for the favorites and follows, it makes me happy to know this story is getting read! Reviews are very much appreciated and they make me smile!**

_**A/N: As of 8-11-2013 this story was tweaked a bit. I lost inspiration for it a few months ago because of a few nasty reviews. So this time I'll say, if you don't like it, DON'T read it. I really don't appreciate the negativity, I thought about deleting the story entirely, but I decided that wouldn't be fair to the people who have kindly reviewed and followed this story. This is my story, if there are some things that are historically inaccurate, deal with it, I'm not a historian.**_

_**A thank you goes out to SP00K who always supports me in all of my work! Also a thank you to the other kind reviewers and followers! If it wasn't for you, this story would have been erased.**_

"I suppose I won't ask what that was about," Sebastian said in a low tone as the three got into the waiting carriage.

Victoria completely ignored the butler as her mind was abuzz with what had just happened. That shinigami, Undertaker, knew more than he was saying and Victoria felt frustrated that he had kept it from her. She was between a rock and a hard place. The reaper was stuck in the living world and relying on a demon with no communication to her fellow dispatch officers. She felt guilty as though she was doing something wrong but what could she do? Going out and searching for other shinigami without a weapon to defend herself with was reckless. The smart decision was to be patient and wait to be found.

Victoria's eyes flashed up and she saw Sebastian staring at her with piercing eyes. Worry coursed through her as she wondered what would happen when she was found staying with such a despicable being. Would she be punished? Suspended? Demoted? The reaper squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to think about it. It wasn't as though Sebastian had done anything to her, and they hadn't done anything bad together, so it shouldn't be a big deal even though he was a demon. To be honest, Victoria thought that her fellow reapers should be thankful to Sebastian for taking such good care of her and allowing her to stay in the Phantomhive manor during the crisis.

The three arrived back at the manor and went inside. Just as Sebastian closed the door behind them there was a yell and a blonde haired girl came sprinting toward Ciel. She embraced him tightly and smiled brightly.

"Oh Ciel! I've missed you!"

"Lizzy… I can't breathe," Ciel huffed out as she squeezed him tightly.

"I want to have a party! I want there to be dancing and music!"

"A party?" Ciel questioned as she let go of him, "I don't have time to do something like that."

Lizzy's big eyes stared at the earl with a pleading look, "Oh please Ciel! I want to spend time with you and I want us to both be wearing cute clothes!"

Ciel let out a stressful sigh, "Alright… since I know you won't leave me alone until I say yes."

"Yay!" Lizzy cried, embracing Ciel again.

It was early evening and the earl stared at Lizzy with a frown.

"Tomorrow then?"

"Absolutely not! Paula and I brought everything that we need! We will have it tonight!" the blonde exclaimed as Paula waved from where she was standing.

"But Lizzy, it's already late…" Ciel trailed off, glancing at Sebastian.

"We have nothing planned for this evening, young master," Sebastian smiled.

Ciel's eyebrow twitched, "Damn it Sebastian," he muttered under his breath.

Victoria watched the situation unfold and couldn't help but find it amusing. Ciel obviously cared for Lizzy, but at the same time it seemed like he wanted to spend as little time with her as possible. He was surprised to see her when they got back but definitely wasn't happy.

"Well… while you all have your party, I'll go back into town… I have a few things I need to do," Victoria whispered to Sebastian.

"No you will not," he stated, "You aren't going back to the funeral parlor. It's blatantly obvious that something occurred between you and Undertaker while we were there. I don't know what it was, but I know that you aren't going back without a weapon of some sort."

"You can't tell me what to do!" Victoria hissed lowly as Lizzy talked loudly to Ciel about what they were going to wear.

"You'll stay here, besides, you need to finish your assistance with dinner preparations. It would be quite rude to leave after you've started."

Victoria narrowed her eyes, "But you prepare dinner by yourself every day, why can't you finish it?"

"It's settled then."

Victoria sighed, 'He's ignoring me,' she thought.

…..

"Ciel! Who is that lady following Sebastian around?" Lizzy asked as they ate their dinner.

"No one, she's not staying," Ciel replied.

"But she must have a name!"

Ciel gripped his fork tightly and shot a glare at the back of his butler who was leaving the room.

"Sebastian, make that _girl_ introduce herself properly."

The butler paused and turned slowly with a smirk playing across his features, "Of course."

Victoria's eyebrows shot up as all eyes fell on her. She looked to Sebastian who was staring at her with crimson eyes and let out a sigh.

"Hello," she said awkwardly with a small wave, "My name is Victoria Ellis."

"Victoria! What a pretty name," Lizzy cooed, "What do you do?"

"What do I do?" Victoria asked with a small frown.

"Yes! Your occupation?" Lizzy asked with a curious expression.

The room went silent and Ciel dropped his silverware with a loud 'clink'.

"I'm a collector…" Victoria trailed off warily.

"Oh my! What do you collect?! Dolls? Coins? Jewlery?!" Lizzy asked with a bright smile.

Sebastian folded his arms and his features showed great amusement with the situation. Ciel looked extremely uncomfortable and Paula smiled happily at her lady's enthusiasm.

"I collect things that have passed their expiration date," Victoria answered slowly, her eyes going from Lizzy to Sebastian.

"Really? That's quite odd, I've never heard of that kind of collecting before."

"Yeah, it's a weird job, but I love it…" Victoria trailed off and then let out a nervous laugh.

"What brings you here?" Lizzy asked next.

Victoria swallowed, why did this girl have to keep asking her questions she couldn't tell her the proper answer to?

"I had an emergency and couldn't get back home, so I'm staying here until I can get back."

"So unfortunate," Lizzy stated.

"My lady, you should finish your dinner before it gets cold," Sebastian interjected.

"Right!" Lizzy nodded, "Then I have to get ready!"

Victoria practically sprinted out of the room and into the kitchen with a relieved sigh.

"Interesting job description," Sebastian said as he walked in behind her.

"What was I supposed to say? Hi I'm Victoria and I reap souls, I'll be coming to get yours someday?"

Sebastian shook his head slowly and pointed at the countertop, "We will stack the dishes here to be washed… and you should change for the event this evening."

"Change into what? I'm not doing it, what if Will or one of the officers finds me? I'd be in huge trouble!"

The butler rolled his eyes, "I doubt they're going to show up since they haven't already."

Victoria ignored him and stared at her nails, "Sheesh, I haven't been able to paint these, they look horrible!"

"I'm going to clean the table up, you stay here."

Victoria watched as he left the room and thought for a moment. The door quickly opened again and he entered the room with soiled dishes stacked incredibly high.

"That's everything," he said, placing them on the countertop.

Sebastian pulled both of his gloves off, revealing his black fingernails and the symbol on his hand.

"What is this thing?" Victoria asked, touching her index finger to the back of his hand.

"You don't know?"

"If I knew I wouldn't be asking, we didn't learn much about demons in reaper school, just that they were leeches and scumbags."

"How flattering," Sebastian stated dryly as he started the faucet where hot water sprang forth.

"So, what is it?"

"You're aware of contracts between demons and humans, correct?" he asked, staring at the soapy water in front of him.

He motioned for Victoria to start handing him dishes and she stared at the top of the stack which loomed over her.

"How am I supposed to get up there?"

"You aren't," Sebastian stated, and yanked a dish from the middle of the tower.

The stack swayed slightly and the butler continued doing so until the top dish was at a manageable height for Victoria to grab. She started handing him the dishes and he glanced at her.

"Are you or not?" he asked again since she didn't answer his earlier question.

"Yes! I know about those, we learned that!"

"I wasn't sure, I don't have much faith in your education system considering how little you appear to have been taught."

Victoria gritted her teeth, reaper school was tough! It was very competitive and she didn't like him talking down about it.

"It's my contract symbol, there's one on my master as well."

An image of the earl popped into Victoria's mind and she spoke, "The eye patch."

Sebastian nodded, "Yes."

"So when you're done with him, you'll steal his soul and move onto the next one, right?"

"That's a rather plain way of looking at it, but yes."

Victoria looked thoughtful, "No wonder shinigami can't stand demons, you really put a kink in our work."

Sebastian said nothing and started drying the clean but wet dishes. He really didn't care that his way of life caused shinigami difficulty, he did what he needed to in order to survive. If that meant stealing souls so that they couldn't be reaped, then so be it.

"I wish I could go home… I miss my bed, I miss the Dispatch Society, I miss Ronald, and I even miss Grell! Ugh, this is awful!" Victoria moaned out.

…

"Let's go visit Sebas_-chan_!" Grell cried as he ran after William.

"Absolutely _not_!" William sputtered.

Grell frowned sadly, "Where are we going then?"

"We're going to scour this city in one night."

Grell groaned, "That sounds horrible… But if we scour the _whole_ city that means we'll have to visit Sebas_-chan_!"

"It does," William nodded, "But that's the last place we'll go, and it's my hope we find Ms. Ellis beforehand so we don't have to visit that devilish fiend you're so enamored by."

Grell looked downcast as he ran next to his superior, "I guess we'll get started then."

….

Victoria watched with her jaw dropped as Sebastian played the violin flawlessly. Ciel and Lizzy moved around the floor gracefully and were dressed up in fancy clothing. Sebastian's eyes were closed and his face was relaxed with a small smile across his lips as he played. Demons playing violins? What trickery was this? Maybe the reaper school needed to get their facts straight. Sebastian was not a horrendous monster. She found it impossible to harbor hate against him just because he was a demon.

Sebastian slightly opened one of his closed eyes and saw the shinigami next to him gawking in awe. Manipulating her was so sweet it sent chills down his spine. Every second she spent with him she was becoming more interested in him and what he was about. Sebastian knew this meant that what she had been taught her entire life was being tested. From what she had seen he didn't fit the description of a monster. Little did she know that this wasn't his true form and that _that_ form was an awful monster to behold. Sebastian could mold her opinion of him easily because she knew so little.

"Sebastian! You're playing is so beautiful!" Lizzy praised him.

Sebastian smiled at the girl, "Why thank you my lady, my master also plays."

Lizzy's green eyes grew wide, "Ciel! You never told me that you could play! Did Sebastian teach you?! What a magnificent teacher he must be considering how skilled he is!"

Ciel shot Sebastian a death glare and the butler merely grinned in response.

"Play me a song Ciel! Please!" Lizzy begged with pleading eyes.

Ciel looked from Lizzy to the violin in his butler's gloved hands. He slowly reached out and took the stringed instrument. The earl lifted the bow and started playing softly. Lizzy watched with glimmering eyes and a smile on her face. It definitely wasn't as good as Sebastian, but his playing was still quite nice with only a few mistakes. As he continued, Sebastian looked to the shinigami beside him and reached out a gloved hand.

"Shall we?" he asked.

Victoria's jaw dropped further and she stared at the butler's outstretched hand.

"It's not polite for a lady to have her mouth open like that," he scolded lightly.

Victoria slammed her jaw shut and winced as her teeth clacked. She couldn't believe that Sebastian was asking her to ballroom dance. The shinigami was perfectly capable of dancing and had learned from the best, Ronald. Her partner was a star on any type of dance floor and, naturally, she had picked up a few things from him. Thinking of Ronald instantly made her feel sad, and she grabbed Sebastian's hand so the thoughts would vanish.

The butler and reaper moved across the floor in an almost ghostly manner. It was as though their feet didn't touch the floor and they were floating. Lizzy turned her attention to the gliding pair and smiled in delight.

"You two are so adorable! You move so well together!" she exclaimed.

Mey-Rin, Bard, Finny, and Paula entered the room and paused when they saw the scene before them.

"She's so pretty, _and_ she's nice!" Finny said with a boyish grin.

"Oh Sebastian," Mey-Rin blushed fiercely.

"Show 'em how it's done Sebastian!" Bard cheered.

Paula rushed to Lizzy's side and asked, "Are you having a good time?"

"Oh yes! I had no idea that Ciel could play the violin and our dancing together was perfect! He looks so cute!"

"You do too my lady!" Paula told her.

Victoria stared off to the side as they danced. She didn't have the nerve to look at the butler straight on when they were so close to one another. Her heart felt heavy in her chest and she even felt a little dizzy. Sebastian didn't seem fazed and he stared directly at the side of her face with a knowing smirk.

"Glad to see you can dance, you've surprised me."

"Of course I can dance," Victoria shot back; still not looking at the butler.

"Not everyone can…" Sebastian trailed off, his eyes shooting over to the earl.

Ciel finished his piece and let out a relieved sigh. Lizzy clapped excitedly and all of the servants cheered. Victoria hesitantly came to face Sebastian and he let go of her; stepping back.

"Well that was interesting," Victoria muttered and then spoke louder just so Sebastian could hear, "But the dancing done at reaper parties is much more challenging… _and_ fun."

His eyebrows shot up, "Really, and what kind of _parties_ would those be?"

"Ronald and I go to a lot of them. He lives for the party scene and things tend to get a bit wild and out of control," Victoria shrugged, "Our job can get monotonous and we need a way to wind down. Alcohol is almost always involved."

…

Ronald tossed in his bed as he slept. The nurse poked her head into the room and watched him for a few moments. She narrowed her eyes and entered silently. She could hear the shinigami mumbling something and got closer.

"Vicky you'd better not be going to a party and having a good time without me or I'll bloody kill you!"


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: I was totally listening to Disturbia by The Cab on Punk Goes Pop 2 the entire time I wrote this chapter, and whew! The last part of this chapter and the lyrics of that song were scary relatable. Enjoy!**

_**A/N: As of 8-11-2013 this story was tweaked a bit. I lost inspiration for it a few months ago because of a few nasty reviews. So this time I'll say, if you don't like it, DON'T read it. I really don't appreciate the negativity, I thought about deleting the story entirely, but I decided that wouldn't be fair to the people who have kindly reviewed and followed this story. This is my story, if there are some things that are historically inaccurate, deal with it, I'm not a historian.**_

_**A thank you goes out to SP00K who always supports me in all of my work! Also a thank you to the other kind reviewers and followers! If it wasn't for you, this story would have been erased.**_

Sebastian placed a glass of wine down in front of Victoria who eyed him suspiciously. Lizzy had left quite some time ago and Ciel was asleep in his room. The other servants were also in bed and the manor was dark; the only light coming from the various candles which were glowing dimly.

"What's this for?" Victoria questioned him.

"You made it seem as though you wanted something to drink… Now, tell me about the type of _party_ that you're used to attending. I'm not familiar," Sebastian said, sitting down in the chair across from her.

They were next to the fireplace which flickered brightly with warmth. Victoria adjusted her glasses and lifted the glass of wine to her lips. She sniffed lightly and Sebastian watched her with an amused look on his face.

"Do you really think I would try and poison you after you've stayed here this long?"

Victoria rolled her eyes, "I wasn't sniffing it for that! You can tell if a wine is going to be a fine one if it has a nice scent."

"Nothing of poor value or taste is kept here, only the finest for my young master. I believe it will be satisfactory."

"Can Ciel even _drink_? Please tell me you give him juice and not alcohol, he's just a boy!" Victoria exclaimed.

Sebastian ignored her outburst and spoke, "It's very rude to change the subject, especially when I've asked you a question."

"Why are you so interested in parties I've gone to?"

Sebastian scowled and Victoria shrugged, taking a small sip of her wine and clicking her tongue. Her eyes went to the ceiling and she looked thoughtful.

"It's kind of bitter."

"If you don't like it…" Sebastian started.

"No, it's fine. I like it, it's different, something I'm not used to. I want more of it," Victoria told him.

Sebastian narrowed his eyes at the shinigami. Was she playing word games with him? Was she really talking about the _wine_? Or something else? He stared at her blue polished fingernails that were wrapped around the glass and leaned back in his chair with a sigh.

"What kind of parties do demons have?" Victoria suddenly asked.

Sebastian gave her an odd look, "We don't have parties. Unlike most species, we aren't really that _friendly_ with one another."

"True, because you're all trying to steal as many souls as you can, so you're always competing with each other," Victoria nodded in understanding, "That's a shame."

"How is it a shame? What use do parties have other than as a temporary distraction to what's happening around you?" the demon butler asked.

Victoria held her glass up, "Maybe you need this more than I do."

Sebastian gave her a deathly glare and the female shinigami placed the wine glass on the stand next to her chair. She crossed her legs and brushed some stray strands of hair out of her face.

"I've always been into the party scene, probably because my best friend and partner is Ronald. I was a serious student in school, but you can't stay serious all of the time. Going out and partying was a total release from the pressure to be perfect. We would dance, drink, and have an awesome time," Victoria explained.

Sebastian stared at her with narrowed eyes and Victoria started laughing.

"And don't for a second by _dance _think thatI'm talking about ballroom dancing. Not even close, I think the reapers are a step ahead of the times… it's a bit more on the vulgar side."

"You make this sound like some kind of underground dance club that they have in the city," Sebastian said.

Victoria snapped her fingers, "Yes! It's a lot like that, except we're not prostitutes, obviously. The reapers can be more _open_ about hooking up with others. It's not as big of a deal, as long as it doesn't interfere with work."

"More open…" Sebastian mumbled, images of Grell leaping at him with open arms filling his mind.

"Ladies don't have to cover their ankles there either," Victoria added, "Lots of dresses and skirts going on."

Sebastian stared at the reaper and frowned.

"I'm a dispatch officer, I need to dress appropriately, if that's what you're thinking. I can't chase after souls in a dress and I'm not really a big fan of wearing them," Victoria said.

"All in all if sounds quite _different_ from anything I've experienced in the past."

"Yes, it is. It's hard to explain, you'd have to go to one to see what it's about," Victoria told him, "Speaking of experience, how old are you?"

"Much older than you," the butler said in a low tone with a small smirk, "I've been around for centuries."

"That long?" Victoria asked in surprise, "What the heck have you been doing all of this time?"

"Well… until now, I've been consuming any and all souls I could get a hold of. I got rather tired of doing it, and now I'm solely waiting to consume my master's. I was in Egypt for a period of time, a palace in Austria as a guest for a while, and I took pleasure in aiding in the spread of the plague several centuries back," Sebastian told the shinigami who watched him with an aghast look on her face.

"How long do demons live?" Victoria asked.

Sebastian didn't answer the question and merely grinned. He pulled off his gloves slowly and traced his fingers over the back of his left hand.

"My master's life is but an instant to me, I'll surely live quite long after he's gone and I'll likely have many more contracts."

"Grim reapers definitely don't live _that_ long. We go to school, work during for most of our lives, and then we retire. When we retire, our scythes are confiscated and we live out the rest of our lives. One of the older shinigami, Mr. Lawrence Anderson, we just call him Pops, actually makes all of the glasses we wear," Victoria explained, touching her fingers to her own spectacles.

Sebastian watched as she finished her glass of wine and set it down lightly on the stand. She glanced at him with a curious expression and leaned her chin into her hand. The demon was unsure what to think at that point. He had always held a dislike for grim reapers but his interest in this fresh faced and new shinigami had him troubled. Sebastian smirked as he felt the strong urge to do something very inappropriate that would be considered especially taboo for her race. He was a demon, he could get away with a bit more than she could since he was already thought of as the 'bad guy'. The butler stood up slowly and held out his hand. Victoria stared with wide blue-green eyes at the hand with black fingernails.

"What?" she asked in confusion.

"One more dance," he told her.

"But there's no music," Victoria said slowly as she grabbed his hand and stood.

"It's not necessary."

The pair started moving across the floor in a graceful rhythm even though there was no music present. Victoria felt flushed and her eyes went from side to side as she was once again unable to look at the demon in the face. She could feel how hot her face was getting and the feeling of his bare hands against hers without gloves was almost enough to drive her crazy. His skin was smooth and quite warm which she would expect coming from a creature of hell. The butler wrapped one of his arms around her waist and Victoria's eyebrows shot up as he pulled her flush against him with a swift movement. Her eyes instantly shot up and met his. She gasped when she saw that his eyes were glowing a bright pink and his pupils had turned to narrow slits.

"What are you doing?" Victoria coughed out in a dry voice.

"I've been in the mood to experiment with something new…" he told her lowly.

"You're scaring me a little bit," the shinigami practically whispered.

"That's good," Sebastian purred out, "You should be."

"What kind of experiment?" Victoria asked in a panicked voice.

"Toying with the rules of nature naturally… quite a dangerous game," Sebastian answered, his eyes gradually returning to their regular state.

Victoria stared at him with wide eyes and he used one finger to push her glasses back up her nose, "I've had an urge since you first appeared in the manor to test your so called code of neutrality. I wondered if it would be possible to drag you down into darkness and I think it's very possible."

"Drag me into darkness? With _you_?"

"Don't get the wrong idea, I'm not asking you to become my lover or any such thing, it's merely an experiment to see if I, as a demon, can taint a shinigami such as yourself," Sebastian explained dryly.

Victoria tried to step back away from the butler but he held fast to her.

"I should have never stayed here! Everything that I was told was true! You're a leech and a scoundrel who is a nuisance to all reapers! So the only reason you were nice to me was for your own amusement? To see if you could get me to like you enough that I'd betray my own kind?! That would _never_ happen!" she shouted at him.

"Keep your voice _down_," Sebastian growled.

"Let me go, I'm leaving! And you can bet I'll never come back!" Victoria hissed, struggling against him.

There was a loud bang and Sebastian yanked Victoria's face forward. He pressed his lips firmly against hers and her eyes doubled in size at the contact. His mouth was hot and it made the shinigami dizzy with a feeling she wasn't familiar with.

"_Victoria!_"

Victoria's heart dropped and she managed to pull herself from the butler. Sebastian let go of her without a fight and he looked up with an amused expression.

"You! You! How dare you! Home-wrecker!"

"Grell?!" Victoria sputtered.

"What pain this is I'm feeling! To see him embracing another woman! I won't forgive you!" Grell shouted at his fellow shinigami with an angry face.

William stepped out from behind Grell with a serious expression on his face. He adjusted his glasses and frowned deeply.

"We've come to collect you and take you back to the Dispatch Society."

"I see…" Victoria trailed off, "You haven't found my scythe or the others have you?"

"Your scythe is the least of your problems. It appears you've been living with and fornicating with a demon? You'll definitely be punished, you aren't going to need a scythe for quite a while. You've obviously failed in your understanding of the code of neutrality. We have no place for an officer that cannot abide by that code," William told her coldly.

Victoria looked crestfallen. William was absolutely right and she had let her emotions cloud her judgment. She should have never given a demon the time of day. It was all her fault and now she was without a scythe and out of a job for the time being. Would she be locked up? Confined to desk duty? Would she ever be able to carry out her duties as a dispatch officer again? Victoria was desperate for answers but the one thing burning in the back of her mind was that hot searing kiss she had just received. Even though she fully acknowledged her wrongdoing she was ashamed to admit she would jump on the opportunity to kiss the demon standing next to her again. Victoria had a feeling that things between them were not even close to being over.

"Come now, we're going," William ordered, giving Sebastian a dirty look.

The demon butler merely smiled in response and watched as the trio of reapers left his line of sight.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Hello all, it's been a while I'm sorry. I'll restate what I have put in my earlier chapters. It has been a while since an update occurred due to some nasty reviews I received. It left me feeling very empty when it involved this story and I didn't want to even look at it for the longest time. I was going to erase it, but decided that it would not be fair to those following and kindly reviewing. So, I'll say it once, if you don't like it, DON'T read it, there's no reason to read it, hate it, then write how terrible it was in a review, that's just plain mean. To my supporters, thank you, without your kind words this story would have been deleted.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Black Butler or any of its characters, but Victoria is someone that I created.**

Victoria trailed behind Grell and William with a sick feeling in her stomach as they stood in the Dispatch Management Division. William walked up to a giant filing cabinet and pulled one of the files out with a frown.

"I'm afraid that you've been suspended for the time being Ms. Ellis," William stated dryly.

He pulled a pen out of nowhere and began writing on one of the sheets inside with a grim expression. Victoria watched with her mouth slightly slack as Grell stuck his nose up in approval. William closed the file promptly and handed it to Victoria with emotionless eyes.

"Take this to the Grim Reaper Staffing Association, you are to remain here until further notice."

Victoria's face fell, "But what about my scythe?"

"That's none of your concern for the time being," William replied.

"You should think about what you've done," Grell put his hands on his hips.

"It's a huge misunderstanding, I swear!" Victoria exclaimed, "That demon forced himself on me! I wasn't asking for it!"

"An investigation into the situation will be performed after the current problem with the rogue scythes is resolved," William returned.

Victoria shook her head, "What am I supposed to do while I'm here? Sit in my room all day and night?"

"You could ask the staffing association if there's a place for you in the General Affairs Department," William replied.

Victoria's face paled, it was her worst nightmare come true. She was going to be stuck at a desk in there for the rest of her life with the flirty, mean, gaudy nailed secretaries. Grell let out a small chuckle and followed William as he left the room. Victoria stared at the wall before looking down at the file in her hands which had her name printed on it. She squeezed her fingers around it tightly and turned around; leaving the dispatch building. She walked outside and briskly made her way to the staffing building and approached the desk. A middle aged male shinigami took her file and opened it, reading the notes inside. He glanced up at her with a distasteful expression before stamping her paper roughly with red ink that read 'temporarily revoked'. Victoria winced as he slammed the file shut and threw it in the basket on his desk.

"I was told I could ask for a temporary position somewhere," Victoria said slowly.

The man eyed her and wordlessly pulled out another file. He flipped through the pages quickly and paused as he read.

"There's a spot in the human resources department, but seeing what you've been charged with… I don't think it's very appropriate for you to be working there."

Victoria's eyebrow twitched and she tapped her shoe impatiently.

"You could perform desk duty in the General Affairs Department," he suddenly said, "That's really the only spot open."

Victoria huffed, "Fine, I'll do it."

"Report tomorrow at 08:00 hours."

The female reaper practically hissed as she snatched the paper he held out to her. She stomped out of the building and was walking to her room before she froze and looked at the reaper academy. She instantly began walking in its direction with clear blue skies above her. There was a slight breeze as she walked across campus and eyed the new recruits who were wearing their small sickles in preparation to become full-fledged reapers. The hospital came into view and Victoria sighed, she really hoped Ronald was there. William and Grell had mentioned something about him being wounded so she assumed he was probably inside. She was going to wring his neck and probably fall to her knees confiding to him about all of her recent dilemmas.

…

"Mr. Knox, you have a visitor," the nurse said as she peered into the room.

"Call me Ron," he winked at her and she blushed.

Victoria entered the room and Ronald's eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"Bloody hell! Vicky! You're back!" he exclaimed.

Victoria closed the door behind her and sat down in one of the chairs next to her partner's bed. She let out a sigh. Ronald looked like he was doing pretty well. He had bandages on, but there was color in his face and a spark in his eyes.

"You must be feeling better, you've got plenty of energy to flirt with the nurse."

Ronald grinned, "I've been working on her since I got here. She's a cute one, that's for sure."

"You think everyone is cute, you've flirted with women from all departments."

"I haven't flirted with you!" Ronald shot back.

"That's because we're partners and best friends," Victoria stated.

"True," Ronald shrugged and pointed to her hand, "What do you have there?"

Victoria shook her head and threw the paper on Ronald's bed. It landed in his lap and he leaned forward to take it. He read it for a few moments before looking up at her in shock.

"You… you've been transferred?" he asked in shock.

"I'll tell you what happened," Victoria sighed, "But it's kind of a long story."

Ronald chuckled, "I've got all the time in the world, they won't let me leave this damn room."

Victoria nodded, "I'll start with when we got separated then…"

…..

"Where'd that new pet of yours disappear to?" Ciel asked as his butler poured him morning tea.

"She went back to where she belongs," Sebastian replied.

"Good, you were having too much fun for my taste."

"What do you mean by that, my lord?" Sebastian questioned as he placed the saucer with the tea cup in front of his master.

"Having her help you with dinner, accompany us to town, and _dancing_ with you. I was surprised you tolerated another person that well, it's unusual," Ciel explained as he sipped his drink and took a bite out of one of the scones present.

"She _was_ unusual," Sebastian gave a small shrug, "I was entertaining myself but it was apparently at my master's expense, I apologize."

Ciel shook his head, "It doesn't matter now, she's gone so things can return to how they were."

"Yes…" Sebastian nodded slowly, "Yes, they can."

….

"Christ Victoria, what were you thinking? Why did you go back there by yourself?" Ronald asked after she had finished her story.

"It was pouring down rain and I had no scythe! I couldn't find _you_ and I stumbled onto that estate's grounds. It was an impulsive decision."

"It's bad luck that William caught you when he did… I know you'd never fraternize with a _demon_. They'll figure out it was a mistake, then you'll be reinstated and we can be partners again," Ronald said hopefully.

"That's the problem Ron…" Victoria started whispering, "I didn't ask for it, but I didn't say no either. That demon, Sebastian, he's different."

Ronald's eyes grew wide, "Not you too! I already have to deal with Sutcliff! That guy is a soul stealing leech!"

Victoria nodded, "I agree, but he isn't the monster that I thought he was. My short stay had me questioning a lot of things I have been taught my entire life."

Ronald leaned back in his bed and let out a whistle, "Whew, I dunno, you might want to keep that to yourself."

"I know, but I had to tell someone, and you're my best friend," Victoria told him.

Ronald winked, "I won't tell a soul."

…..

Victoria stared blankly at the wall in her room. She had imagined that her homecoming would be a little more… pleasant. For the past few days all she had thought about was sleeping in her own bed and now that she was back in her room she felt empty. The female reaper had lost her job, lost her partner, and her dignity as a death god. She squeezed her fists tightly as tears threated to spring forth.

"That bastard demon," she hissed as she threw her heels into the floor and stood.

Victoria grabbed her nail file and some polish with a scowl. She sat back down on her bed and went to work on her chipped fingernails. Grooming always made Victoria feel better and when she was stressed one of her favorite things to do was to sit down to do her nails. Almost an hour passed before her nails were perfectly shaped and the new polish was completely dry on them. She let out a huff and touched her tangled hair with a frown. It felt gritty and dirty as it had been some time since she had been able to shower. Victoria wrinkled her nose and quickly made her way to the bathroom so she could thoroughly scour herself with the scrub brush to try and wash away the dirt and shame from the previous days. As the hot water rained down on her Victoria kept turning up the temperature. Her skin turned pink and she scrubbed her skin roughly as soap bubbled up. Victoria couldn't help but think about Sebastian and how close he had been to her. She reached up to her lips and shook her head, grabbing a wash cloth and scrubbing at them vigorously. She wasn't going to stop cleaning herself until she was positive she had removed _all_ traces of that despicable man.

…

"I'm here to pick up my scythe."

Victoria stared through the teller window at someone who had approached her in the General Affairs Department.

She sighed, "Your name?"

She flipped absent mindedly through a stack of papers before pulling one out. She read the reaper his information and his nodded in confirmation.

"One second please," Victoria mumbled as she turned around and left her post.

She walked into the back room where there were dozens of scythes with tags on them for identification. Victoria walked around, looking from the paper in her hands to the tags on the weapons before she found the correct one. She reached out for it and paused when her eyes landed on a very familiar scythe nearby.

"Ron…" she trailed off sadly as she recognized his mower, "It must have been damaged."

"Quit daydreaming, you should be performing your duties as quickly and efficiently as possible."

Victoria turned around to see her favorite gaudy nailed secretary glaring down at her. The female reaper stood up and faced the woman with a scowl.

"Don't get on my case, I'll be out of here soon enough."

"That's not what I heard," she replied, tapping one of her long nails on her arm.

Victoria's eyebrows shot up, "What do you mean?"

"Everyone knows… the reaper who fell for a demon, it's despicable! There's a reason why there aren't any female dispatch officers and it's because of people like _you_!"

Victoria took a step back as she felt like she had been kicked in the gut. She felt like she was going to be sick and squeezed her fists tightly.

"Say what you want… everyone can gossip but I'm the one who knows the true story. There was no foul play on my part and when they investigate they'll find out for themselves," she said lowly before grabbing the scythe she had come for.

The other secretary scowled as she left the room. Victoria emerged from the back and handed the reaper his scythe.

"Sign here," Victoria pointed at a line as she slid a paper across the desk to him.

The reaper left and once again Victoria was alone with her thoughts. She stared blankly out of her teller window as suited shinigami bustled back and forth with serious expressions. They were all men and they looked incredibly professional. She let out a sigh as she realized her entire life work to be a worthy shinigami had been thrown out the window. When she had been told because of her gender she was never going to be an officer she proved everyone wrong. Guilt welled within her as she realized she had proved all of the doubters correct after all.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Thank you to Paxloria, alexma, and SP00K for your kind reviews! :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Black Butler or any of its characters, but Victoria is someone that I created.**

Days passed by but the critical situation in the realm of the grim reapers remained the same. The scythes were still missing and the culprits were unknown. Several reapers had returned and been sent to the hospital with serious injuries after battles with the cloaked figures. Some of them returned bare handed, their scythes stolen. Victoria sat behind her window in the General Affairs Department and gritted her teeth as she watched shinigami desperately racing back and forth due to the worsening situation. She clenched her jaw and let out a reluctant sigh, why did she have to feel so useless? She wanted to be helping them but she was stuck behind a desk safe and sound while the other reapers were being poached for their scythes.

"Oy! Vicky!"

Victoria snapped out of her thoughts as she saw Ronald approach her window. She looked him up and down, he was back to normal. His white and black shoes clicked on the tile floor and he leaned an elbow on her desk with a grin.

"I'm here to retrieve my death scythe!"

Victoria nodded, "I saw it in the back the other day… I've missed you, you know?"

Ronald tapped a black gloved finger on the shiny desk, "Me too… It's going to be weird not having you around when I head back out."

"Back out?"

"Now that I'm all better, Will wants me back out helping the others with the search," Ronald answered.

Victoria looked crestfallen, "I'd give anything to be out there too…"

Ronald leaned closer, "I wish ya could be too… but you've got no scythe, you'd be a sitting duck."

Victoria and Ronald paused as a large group of academy students walked by, following a reaper who was taking them on a tour. Victoria stared at their waste bands and her eyebrows shot up.

"What if…" she started.

"No, no you don't," Ronald shook his head, "You're already in enough trouble, let it go."

"I've already lost my job and my reputation, what else do I have to lose?" Victoria questioned.

"I don't like it one bit, but I know how stubborn you are, so as your best bud," Ronald winked, "I suppose I can help you out."

Victoria felt her stomach twist at the thought of breaking the rules further. It was all or nothing. She could help and prove she was worthy enough to be reinstated or she would fail and be stuck as a clerk for the rest of her life. The female reaper made up her mind and gave Ronald a small nod.

"I'm due to leave this evening and meet up with another group in London," Ronald spoke lowly.

Victoria was silent and waited for him to continue.

"I'll meet you at your place after your shift ends here, then the rest is up to you… I'll bring you what you need."

Victoria nodded and gave him a smile, "You're the best."

Ronald shrugged, "I know… now about my scythe, could you fetch that for me? I'll be needing it to pay those bastards back."

…..

"You're lucky I'm so charming," Ronald said as he handed Victoria an object wrapped in a silk cloth.

The two reapers were in Victoria's room and she reached forward with a nervous smile. She pulled the soft cloth away and stared down at a small sickle, exactly like the one she had used when she was in reaper school before receiving her death scythe.

"How exactly did you get it?" Victoria asked hesitantly.

Ronald leaned back against the wall and laced his fingers behind his head, "Oh you know… I made eyes with one of the desk maids."

Victoria shook her head, Ronald was always such a flirt. She usually ragged on him for it, but in this case his flirtatious ways had come in handy since almost all of the women adored him. The female reaper took the holder and attached it to the belt holding up her dress pants. She quickly slid the sickle into its place on her hip as she pulled her blue jacket over it.

"How are you getting down there?" Ronald asked.

"I'm following you of course."

"Oh…"

Victoria shook her head, "Don't worry, I'm not asking you to do anything else, I don't want you to lose your job too. The rest is on me."

Ronald pulled his suit sleeve up and eyed his expensive watch, "I've got to get going."

Victoria nodded, "Thanks for everything."

"Good luck, you're going to need it," Ronald gave her a small grin before waving as he left the room.

…..

"Do you understand your objective Mr. Knox?"

Ronald nodded, "Loud and clear, I'll head out now, meet up with the group in London, and help them out."

William adjusted his glasses, "Very well."

Ronald turned and left the dispatch building and glanced over his shoulder to see Victoria following at a distance. He couldn't help but smile at how stubborn she was. She could be a bit of a pistol at times. His white and black shoes clicked as he moved and Ronald began to whistle a tune with a grin. He glanced at his watch and rolled his eyes slightly, wondering how much longer it would be until they could return the scythes safely to where they belonged. In a way, being injured had been a blessing in disguise, because if he would have been in okay health, he would have racked up more overtime hours then he could count.

"I guess we will be off then," he muttered.

…

It was night time in London as Victoria stood alone on one of the rooftops. It was so cold that small snowflakes floated in the air and melted when they hit her glasses. Ronald was long gone and the female reaper already knew where she was headed first. She began running across the rooftops and was careful with her footing as they were quite icy. Eventually she arrived in front of the ragged building she was looking for and scowled. Victoria marched up to the door and pounded on it loudly with a determined expression. She waited a few moments before the rough wooden door slowly creaked open.

"Well, well, what a surprise we have here."

Chills ran down Victoria's spine as she heard the voice coming from the darkness. It was obvious from the way he was speaking that the Undertaker was grinning from ear to ear.

"What can I do for you?" he asked sarcastically as she walked into the dark building.

A candle flickered in the center of the room but Victoria could only see the funeral director's haughty outline. She stepped closer to the light, hoping he would follow so she would be able to see him more clearly.

"You know something about the missing death scythes…" Victoria trailed off.

"What if I do?" he asked in amusement.

"I want you to tell me what you know," Victoria stated seriously.

Undertaker grinned again and pointed a long black fingernail at her belt, "What's that you're carrying there? It couldn't be you've lost your own scythe and are desperately looking for it…"

He was playing games with her and Victoria curled her lip, "So what if I'm looking for it? That's why I'm here, so I can find it and get it back!"

Undertaker shook his head and 'tsked' lightly, "A real reaper would never lose their scythe."

Victoria winced, he was completely correct. It was all her fault that she had lost it and was now trying to get it back. She felt like such a stupid novice and it was a devastating blow to her confidence. Victoria wrapped her fingers around her sickle subconsciously and squeezed. A grin spread across Undertaker's face and he cackled loudly.

"What are you going to do with that little thing?"

Before Victoria could react Undertaker reached into his black cloak and in a flash she was staring up at a giant death scythe looming over her head. The handle looked to be the spine of a person with the ribs and head still attached. The blade was gigantic and the female reaper swore that the empty eye sockets in the skull were glowing red at her.

"How?" she whispered, "You aren't a reaper anymore…"

"I _was_ one," Undertaker corrected, "I really didn't feel like giving this up, it's my pride and joy."

Victoria's eyebrows shot up as he took long black fingernails and brushed his bangs aside to reveal enticing yellow-green eyes. She couldn't believe it, but under that hair, he was a beautiful man, even with the scar on his face. His eyes seemed to suck her in and Victoria held her breath as she stared at him. Undertaker grinned once more and traced his fingers lightly over his blade.

"You don't have glasses, how can you see?"

Undertaker laughed loudly, "Oh my, such a green one you are… if you're still relying on your eyes to see, you know nothing."

Victoria squinted slightly, what the heck was that supposed to mean? She took a step backward as she realized that the deserter in front of her had an overwhelming aura about him.

"What's your next move?" Undertaker asked with an amused grin.

"I want you to tell me what you know about the missing scythes," Victoria said with a hint of trembling in her voice.

Undertaker tossed his head, his green eyes glowing, "And what if I don't know anything?"

Victoria stomped her foot, "You have to know _something_."

"Why don't you ask your new friends to help you out… the little earl and his _pet_?"

Victoria curled her lip, "That jerk is the reason I lost my position as a dispatch officer, I don't want a thing to do with him!"

Undertaker leaned on his scythe with a charming smile, "Oh? Is that so? It sounds like you were caught doing something you shouldn't have been doing."

Anger hit the female reaper instantly, "Once I get my scythe back I'll deal with him for having me demoted!"

A chuckle rattled through the dark building and the candle flickered, "This is good," Undertaker said.

Victoria gritted her teeth and turned around quickly, walking to the door. Obviously all this former reaper wanted to do was play games with her and make her angry.

"Don't you want a clue? That's why you came here isn't it?"

Victoria paused, "That's right."

Undertaker chuckled, "There's a convent north of London, perhaps you should go see what they are up to…"

Victoria's eyebrow shot up, "A convent?"

Undertaker dropped his head and his bangs fell over his eyes once again, "Ah, now if you please, I've got bodies that need tending to."

Victoria winkled her nose and left the building wordlessly. She stepped outside into the street where snow was still falling. She looked up at the dark sky and wondered where Ronald was. It would be impossible for her to go to the convent by herself and take on a group of a dozen or more individuals with death scythes; especially since all she had was a novice's sickle. The reaper let out a sigh, things were so complicated. She couldn't return to Will because he would punish her for leaving, but she couldn't take on this enormous task on her own. Victoria shook her head, perhaps a confrontation with a certain demon was inevitable.

….

Victoria pounded on a giant door with an angry scowl, "Open up!"

"Hey! Knock it off!" Bard shouted as he yanked the door open, a cigarette hanging from his mouth.

"Where is Sebastian? I need to have a conversation with him," Victoria said seriously.

"What is it with you coming in the middle of the night?" Bard growled, "We like to sleep ya know."

'That bastard demon _never_ sleeps,' she spat in her head.

Bard groaned as Victoria shoved by him and made her way to the giant staircase. She sniffed the air lightly, her nose becoming filled with the scent of a demon. She couldn't help the small shiver that ran up her spine. Victoria hated having to resort to asking him for assistance, but she was out of options and had no one else to turn to. William would reap her himself if she returned empty handed, she didn't want to get Ronald in trouble, and she couldn't accomplish the mission on her own. The only option left was staring down at her from the top of the grand staircase. Victoria was utterly confused. As she stared up at him she had the urge to beat him to a pulp, but she also felt a bit relieved to see him. She should hate him, but she couldn't.

"Didn't you get in trouble for this already?" Sebastian questioned with an amused smirk.

"Don't get cute with me," Victoria pointed at him, "You owe me a favor, it's your fault all this has happened to me! Help me get my scythe back."

Sebastian blinked and stated dryly, "I owe you nothing."

Victoria slammed her foot down hard, "You _do_! I lost my job because of you! The least you can do is help me get my scythe back so I can be reinstated!"

"I saved your life once, if anyone owes someone a favor, you owe me one," Sebastian shrugged.

The reaper and demon stared at each other before there was the sound of a door slamming. Victoria turned to see Ciel rubbing his eyes with a very irritated expression. His face fell when his eyes landed on her.

"You've got to be kidding, Sebastian, I thought you got rid of _it_."

"I thought _it_ went home," Sebastian shrugged.

"I'm right here!" Victoria waved with a snarl.

Ciel ignored her and narrowed his eyes at his butler, "Why does she keep coming here?"

"There's a convent up north that I was told to investigate, I can't do it alone, no matter how much I hate to admit it. What happens when those rouges decide to come harvest _you_ next!?" Victoria pointed at Ciel.

Ciel shook his head, "It's too late for this… Sebastian, has the body count decreased or increased over the past few days due to these missing scythes?"

Sebastian stared down at the candle he was holding in his gloved hand, "Increased, my lord."

Ciel folded his arms, "That does it then, I can't allow this to continue. We must stop this in the name of the queen."

Sebastian gave his master a small bow, "Yes, my lord."

Victoria let out a relieved sigh, no matter how arrogant she thought the little boy was she had to admit she was glad he was on board.

"Then let's go!" she said turning toward the door.

"No."

Victoria froze and turned to look back up at the earl and the butler.

"I'm not leaving at this hour, it can wait until the morning," Ciel stated as he began walking back toward his bedroom with a small wave.

"My lord?" Sebastian questioned with a small smirk.

"Put her up for the night, anything to keep her quiet so I can get some sleep. What an annoying and rude girl."

Sebastian placed his hand over his heart, "Of course."


End file.
